Genealogy Chat

Does anyone have local knowledge about the extent of baptism records in Sheffield around 1812? My 2GGF was Thomas Mitchell, a farrier in 4th Dragoon Guards, and according to census data was born c1811/12 Sheffield. I am trying to identify him, and there are several possible matches in IGI records, all in the Cathedral. I didn't see any Sheffield baptisms for that period that weren't in the Cathedral - does anyone know if that was normal, or am I looking at too limited a range of records? Does anyone know how extensive the information in the baptism records of that time were? Am I likely to find father's trade or occupation, for example? It is going to be very difficult to match him with parents if there are several records of similar date, and as I am not in the area, I am going to have to make a special trip to look at the original records, unless I can order a copy of the appropriate microfilm and view it at a local LDS centre.

most of the baptisms for this period would have been in the Cathedral, as it was the major church in the area we now think of as the City of Sheffield. From memory, I think there were 4 churches in the Sheffield area about this time. (Not including Catholic & non-conformist) Many of the newer churches are in the ''suburbs'' & were built to accommodate the growing population from the 1840's onwards. Having said that, the coverage on the IGI for Sheffield itself isn't brilliant; your family might be elsewhere (not on-line), or perhaps even from one of the outlying villages... I think I read elsewhere on this board that the Parish Church often did not charge for baptisms, so that perhaps explains why people used it if there was one a bit nearer. If you want a search of the Cathedral records, be warned there were dozens of baptisms every week, so that's a lot to look through! At least if you've found some on the IGI you have a good place to start. You can order the film from your local LDS centre. make sure its the original registers though, and not transcripts. as for what info is on them, I haven't yet looked at Sheffied records of this period so I can't tell you. (They tend to vary with the parish & incument.) At the least, you should get the father's name & mother's first name & possibly the locality where they lived. Later Cathedral ones did have father's occupation & a fuller address.

Thanks for the info.