Genealogy Chat

I've emailed you all individually but would like to say a public thank you to everyone who has replied. Thank you for giving me such a lot of useful information, it is all a great help. I've been a bit miserable lately with all the nastiness on some of the boards, but you've all restored my faith in GR members. Love Mandy :)

As a Baptist. Yes you could have a atrade and be licenced to preach, just like a lay preacher. However, I thought that only full Ministers wore the 'dog collar'. Although it may have been different then. Ancestral Trails stated that Sourses of infrmation for Baptist ministers are listed by Breed (278) Baptist churches and ministers are listed in the Baptist handbook published annually from 1861. Many histories of baptist churches are hel by the Baptist historical Society. and the strict baptist Historical Society. Ann Glos

Hi Mandy, My 3xgt grandfather Joseph King of Southill, Beds, was shown as a land agent's clerk in several censuses and changed to a wheelwright in his 70s (took over the family business rather than a late apprenticeship I think!) It was only when a kind soul on genes connected did some look ups in the Southill Baptist Church book for me that I discovered that he was also a deacon of the baptist church and had been licensed to preach. I guess your ancestor could have been in a similar position. It would be worth checking whether records exist for the baptist church in his area. Judith

As others have been saying, ministers often combined preaching with a day job. The following is the blurb from the Society of Genealogists website. "My Ancestors were Baptists by Geoffrey Breed 135 pages 4th edition Publ. by SoG A new and revised edition of this very popular book, a history of the church plus valuable information on what records can be obtained. A complete listing of all Baptist churches and dates by county and appendices showing for instance the important collection in Dr Williams Library." Not sure about baptists in particular, but nonconformists often had wonderful and highly coloured obituaries in their equivalents of trade rags. Brenda

Hi Mandy my gt gt grandfather and his father were Somerset coal miners but they were also lay preachers at the chapel in Leigh on Mendip. It gave them some standing with in the community. Hope you are well Mandy Mal

My mum is pretty certain that her great-grandfather was a Baptist minister; she can remember a large framed photo of him in his clerical collar at her gran's house, and also remembers her gran talking about him. However, I've now got certificates relating to him (and offspring) as well as relevant censuses, and he is down everywhere as a labourer. We wondered if he became a minister in later life, but he was 69 at the time of the last 'labourer' occupation so I would doubt it! What we were wondering was, back in the early-mid 1880s could you be a minister without having trained, ie do it in your spare time like lay preachers do now? Or does someone else have another possible explanation? Many thanks, Mandy :)