LIST 4 - BAPTISMS - DEUXIEME DIZAINE - ST JOHNS LAUNCESTON

 
 
The fifth church to be established in the colony was St Johns at Port Dalrymple 
(Launceston) in Van Diemens Land. This fifth 'primary source' list contains 
the details of 46 baptisms recorded in St John's church register for children 
born between 1801 and 1810, 22 males and 24 females.
 
The information recorded for each child includes: 
 
 reference number
 date of baptism 
 date of birth
 Christian name
 father's Christian name 
 father's family name 
 father's year of arrival in the colony 
 father's ship of arrival in the colony 
 father's status upon arrival in the colony 
 mother's Christian name
 mother's maiden name
 mother's year of arrival in the colony
 mother's ship of arrival in the colony
 mother's status upon arrival in the colony
 parent's civil status at the time of the child's birth
 parent's marital status at the time of the child's birth
 parent's year & country/church of marriage where applicable 
 
The list is presented in chronological order by date of baptism then 
alphabetically by father's surname. 
 
These St Johns Launceston baptisms account for 1% of the "Deuxieme Dizaine".
 
Where the father's surname has a second name separated by a slash '/', the surname 
after the slash is how the name was spelt in the original document or if second 
name is substantially different it refers to an alias. Where the mother's surname 
has a second name separated by a slash, the surname after the slash is her 
married name at the time of the recording being made if she was married more 
than once. 
 
The reference number would direct the reader to the relevant entry in the 
original source document.
 
It has been the usual practice throughout this work to assume the year of birth 
to be the same as the year of baptism where no birth date was recorded. However 
in the case of St Johns, given its particular historical circumstances, the 
baptisms which took place in 1811 have been included with the "Deuxieme 
Dizaine". Even though the settlement at Port Dalrymple in Van Diemens Land was 
founded in 1804, no clergyman visited the settlement until the Reverend 
Knopwood did so in 1811, which took place in late February/early March of that 
year. In this instance this decision would appear eminently reasonable and 
indeed in many cases information from other sources has verified their 
inclusion.
 
The Rev Knopwood next visited the settlement in 1814. There were five baptisms 
identified as "Deuxieme Dizaine" in records which took place after 1811 when 
older children came to baptism, the latest being Joseph Easton in 1834 at the 
age of thirty two.
 
Sophia Hazelwood was born on Norfolk Island and Thomas Davis was born in Sydney.
 
The list contains the baptisms of three native children.
 
It should be noted that this list contains considerably more information 
than will be found in the original church register, being the result of decades 
of research, principally associated with the Pioneer Register Project.
 
On this occasion there were more girls baptized than boys. The more than three 
quarters of illegitimate births can be explained by the fact of a lack of a 
clergyman to consecrate marriages at Port Dalrymple.
During this period the colonial born make their first appearance as parents, 
with seven children having colonial born mothers.
 
 Table 8.1 - Baptisms St Johns Launceston
  
 Total Males Females Convict Convict Legitimate Illegitimate
 Father Mother
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 pre 1811 41 19 22 29 28 6 35 
post 1811 5 3 2 3 4 2 3 
 ------------------------------------------------------------------
 Totals 46 22 24 32 32 8  38
Percentages 47.8% 52.2% 69.6% 69.6% 17.4% 82.6%
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "SJL" on List 1. To locate 
an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the name would be 
made on List 1 from which the date of baptism would be retrieved, secondly using 
the appropriate date, the baptism would be located on this list and finally 
an alphabetical search on the name would be made on the baptismal date if 
there should be more than one entry for that date. 
 
The abbreviations used in this list are explained below:
 
 d = defacto
 m = married
 
 CF = came free
 GS = government servant (convict)
 FS = free by servitude (emancipist)
 AP = free by absolute pardon
 CP = free by conditional pardon
 EX = exile
 NE = never emigrated
  -- = unknown
 
 NI = Norfolk Island
 SJL = St Johns Launceston
 SPS = St Phillips Sydney

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