BAPTISMS - ST JAMES SYDNEY

 
 
Sadly, to date the baptismal register of St James is yet to be transcribed. 
In its absence an alternative source of information is the State Archive Pioneer 
Series of births which lists 1,731 possible baptisms for this decade, although 
42 refer to children born before 1831, plus 108 performed after 1840 for children 
born between the years 1831 and 1840. On average more than three baptisms performed 
every week over the decade.
 
Regrettably the State Archive records contain less information than the church 
register, just seven items:
 
 year of birth
 child's Christian name(s)
 father's family name 
 father's Christian name(s) 
 mother's maiden name (for illegitimate births only)
 mother's Christian name(s)
 reference number
 
For the Anglican parishes at least the reference number can be used to 
establish the year of baptism for the vast majority of entries.
 
Thus information missing from the parish baptismal register includes five 
extra items:
 
 date of baptism 
 date of birth
 abode
 father's quality or profession 
 officiating minister
 
Also missing from this list, without further and extensive personal research, 
are the final seven extra items of information which this work normally endeavours 
to include and which makes this work so valuable:
 
 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 
 
The list is presented in reference number order.
 
Mysteriously there were only eight baptisms recorded for 1838. It is highly 
probable that the sudden huge jump in the number of baptisms at St Phillips 
in the year 1838 (524) may have been the result of mis-codings for St James.
 
Assuming listing the mother's surname indicates she was not married to 
the child's father, only 54 of the births were illegitimate.
 
Baptisms relating to births prior to 1831 are indicated with a hash sign 
(#), duplicate baptisms are indicated with an asterix (*) and baptisms for 
children born at sea with a percent sign (%).
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "SJS" 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.

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