Genealogy Chat

Be very careful about using baptismal certs INSTEAD of Birth or Marriage Certs. Baptismal certs are very useful in their own right but the information on there will not be as explicit as on a marriage or a birth cert and you would use the information as any other source, with great caution. I was told my grandmother was born in Yorkshire, but found her baptismal certificate in Portsea, Hampshire, just 2 weeks after her birth, suggesting my previous information had been wrong. So for years she was on my tree b in Hampshire and unwisely I never pursued the Birth Cert until a census told me she was b in Yorkshire which then threw me off course. When I sent for the birth cert I realised that she had indeed been b in Yorkshire into an army family, who had then moved to Portsea Hampshire within 2 weeks of her birth, so the main source is still the Birth Cert first and then the baptismal cert. My bap cert does not give the info you get on a marriage or a birth cert. It states my name, parents' names, my mother's maiden name, sponsor and church of baptism, my birthdate, but NO place or address of birth. Apart from NOT giving my address and place of birth, neither does it give the occupation of my father. I would NOT consider this a substitute for my Birth Certificate or my parents' marriage certificate. Interesting document yes, but substitute NO. Janet

Rather hit or miss with address, you may just get a parish.

The ones we use today don't contain as much information as in the register. I've never seen an old one but I would guess they wouldn't either.

Thanks Margaret.

What is usually on a baptism certificate??

I went into the Buckinghamshire Local Studies section in Aylesbury yesterday evening. I got copies of the Baptism Register pages for my gt-x2 grandmother and her brother and for both their weddings. That's better* than a Marriage cert because it really does have the original handwriting on it - including their signatures! The Baptism Register entries had a stab at their birthdates, too, but there's no guarantee of that - down to the vicar's/rector's inclination. Christine *PS - it's much cheaper, too, at 40p a copy instead of £7 - although you have to factor in any travel/parking costs - but I was up there anyway.

Hi Christopher, The original information will most probably be held by the local records office. Records offices have the records available to view on microfilm and you can usually buy a copy of the record for a small fee. My local library also has a lot of parish records on microfilm, the selection is not as great as the RO but it may be worth asking if the library is more accessible for you. Hope this helps Kx

how would i go about getting a baptism certificate, i believe i know the church my ancester was baptised in and the date would the church still hold the info it happened in1875, or would the infomation be centrally held somewhere i'm not sure if the church is still there