BAPTISMS - CHRIST CHURCH NEWCASTLE

 
 
There were 294 baptisms performed at Christ Church Newcastle during the 
decade, although 23 refer to children born before 1831, plus 11 performed 
after 1840 for children born between the years 1831 and 1840, this amounts 
to 63 more than the previous decade. On average there were over two baptisms 
performed per 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, all 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 Newcastle Family History Society's "Christ Church, Newcastle, NSW, 
1804-1900, Transcriptions and Indexes of Baptism, Marriage and Burial 
Registers" was also most helpful in providing information.
 
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, 
especially in the case of Christ Church for some reason, but this has been corrected 
in this work.
 
The Rev. George A Middleton continued as chaplain from the previous decade 
and remained in the parish until 1837 although after 1830 his status in the 
parish is unclear. The Rev.Charles P N Wilton arrived in 1831 presumably to 
become the new incumbent chaplain but as last as 1834 he was referring to 
himself as "assistant' chaplain and at the baptisms of three of his children 
Middleton was referring to himself as 'clerk'. Bishop William G Broughton 
performed many of the baptisms in 1831. Other ministers who officiated at 
baptisms during the decade included: Rev.Richard Hill, Rev.George K 
Rusden, Rev.Thomas Sharpe, Rev.Lancelot Edward Threlkeld & Rev.Frederick W 
Wilkinson.
 
There were obviously occasions when no clergyman was available and lay members 
of the parish officiated including; Mr William Cooper, Mr Charles Price, Sir 
Edward Parry JP & Mr Charles Spencer.
 
With regard to the fathers only 73% have been identified.
 
Fifteen were colonial born plus two were childhood arrivals, combined making up 
just 6% of the total; 105 were convicts or former convicts (34%); 25 were in the 
military (8%) and 78 arrived free in the colony (26%).
 
With regard to the mothers 79% have been identified.
 
Forty one were colonial born plus seven were childhood arrivals, combined making 
up just 16% of the total; 99 were convicts or former convicts (31%) and
95 arrived free in the colony (31%).
 
Assuming listing the mother's surname indicates she was not married to 
the child's father, twenty nine (10%) of the births were illegitimate.
 
Notice the marked difference in distribution of the civil status of the parents
when compared to the parishes along the Hawkesbury river.
 
There were eight 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 B148 and run to B419 by the end of 1838 (B251 was omitted and B330 
& B370 were duplicated). The numbers were re-initialized in 1839 to C001 and 
reached C052 by the end of the decade.
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "CCN" 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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