BAPTISMS - CATHOLIC PARISH OF DAPTO; ILLAWARRA; WOLLONGONG

 
 
There were 116 baptisms performed at this parish during the decade, plus 
eight performed after 1840 for children born between the years 1831 and 1840. 
The first baptism was performed on the 8th August 1838.
 
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 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.
 
The Rev.John Rigney was appointed as the first chaplain in 1838 and remained certainly 
until the end of the decade. There were several entries where the minister is not
recorded.
 
With regard to the fathers only 30% have been identified. It is almost certain that
most of the 70% unknown were free arrivals and arriving in the last couple of years
of the decade made identification extremely difficult.
 
Just three were colonial born (2%), 25 were convicts or former convicts (20%), seven 
arrived free in the colony (6%) and two were from the military (2%).
 
With regard to the mothers only 29% have been identified. This low figure is explained
for reasons similar to the fathers listed above.
 
Six were colonial born plus four were childhood arrivals, combined making up 
8% of the total; eight were convicts or former convicts (6%) and 17 arrived free in the 
colony (15%).
 
Assuming listing the mother's surname indicates she was not married to 
the child's father, only seven (6%) of the births were illegitimate.
 
There were ten 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 commencing at 0001 ran to 0122 by the 
end the decade. (Three entries were blank).
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "ILLR" on Lists 1 & 2. To 
locate an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the name would 
be made on Lists 1 or 2 from which the reference number would be retrieved, 
secondly using the appropriate number, the entry would be located.

Proceed to Church Register

Return to 1831-1840

Return to Home Page

This work is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.