BAPTISMS - CHRIST CHURCH CASTLEREAGH

 
 
There were 338 baptisms performed at Christ Church Castlereagh during the 
decade, although 16 refer to children born before 1831, plus 7 performed 
after 1840 for children born between the years 1831 and 1840, this amounts 
to about 50% more than the previous decade. On average there were roughly 
three baptisms performed each month over the decade.
 
The information recorded for each baptism includes: 
 
 date of baptism 
  date of birth
 child's Christian name
 father's family name 
 father's Christian name 
 father's year & ship of arrival in the colony 
 father's status upon arrival in the colony 
 mother's maiden name
 mother's Christian name
 mother's year & ship of arrival in the colony
 mother's status upon arrival in the colony
 parents' civil status at the time of the child's birth
 parents' marital status at the time of the child's birth
 parents' year & country/church of marriage where applicable 
 child's place of birth
 father's quality or profession 
 officiating minister
 reference number
 
Father's year & ship of arrival in the colony, father's status upon arrival in the colony, 
mother's year & ship of arrival in the colony, mother's status upon arrival in the colony, 
parents' civil status at the time of the child's birth, parents' marital status 
at the time of the child's birth, parents' year & country/church of marriage 
where applicable are all value added details resulting from extensive personal 
research, information which makes this work so valuable for family historians.
 
In the church register the mother's maiden name is only recorded when the birth 
is illegitimate, but again through personal research the maiden name of many of the 
married women has been discovered as well.
 
The Rev. Henry Fulton continued as incumbent from the previous decade and stayed
until his death in November 1840 when Rev.John Vincent took over for the remainder 
of the decade. 
 
The list is presented in chronological order by date of baptism then by reference
number. The records in the register are not always in strict chronological order 
but this has been corrected in this work.
 
With regard to the fathers unfortunately only 77% have been identified.
 
One hundred and thirteen were colonial born plus five were childhood arrivals,
combined making up 34% of the total; 124 were convicts or former convicts (36%); 
fifteen arrived free in the colony (4%) and ten were in the military (3%).
 
With regard to the mothers 80% have been identified.
 
One hundred and eighty were colonial born plus 17 were childhood arrivals,
combined making up 57% of the total; 47 were convicts or former convicts (14%) and
34 arrived free in the colony (10%).
 
Assuming listing the mother's surname indicates she was not married to 
the child's father, forty two (12%) of the births were illegitimate.
 
Castlereagh, being one of Governor Macquarie's famous Five Towns on the Hawkesbury
River, was by the 1830's a very stable settled community, respresenting the very 
epitomy of the old convict and emancipist society, descended mainly from the earliest
felons transported to the colony, who were planted, flourished and prospered here. The
emancipist character of the parish persisted for many generations unlike other places 
such as Sydney Town and Parramatta where diluted by the influx of free arrivals to 
the colony were rapidly loosing their original convict foundations.
 
There were two baptisms in the State Archives Pioneer Series file which 
have no entry on this parish register. It is very likely that most of 
these result from typographical errors and relate to post 1840 baptisms.
These are identified with the percent sign (%). 
 
The reference number would direct the reader to the relevant entry in the 
original source document. The numbering system continued from the previous 
decade at 0104 and run to 0444 by the end of the decade (number 184 was duplicated).
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "CCC" on Lists 1 & 2. To 
locate an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the name would 
be made on List 1 or 2 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. 

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