BAPTISMS - ST JOHNS WILBERFORCE

 
 
There were 180 baptisms performed at St Johns Wilberforce during the 
decade, although 13 refer to children born before 1831, plus 5 performed 
after 1840 for children born between the years 1831 and 1840. There were
no baptisms recorded for 1837. On average there were three baptisms performed 
each fortnight 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.
 
Kristine Wood at the "Hawkesbury on the Net" site 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 
but this has been corrected in this work.
 
The Rev.Mathew Devenish Meares continued his chaplaincy from the previous 
decade and he continued in the parish until the end of 1836 when he was replaced 
firstly in 1837 by Rev.Henry Tarlton Stiles (who performed no baptisms that year) 
then in 1838 by Rev.John Espie Keane who tended the parish for the remainder of the 
decade. The Rev.Henry Tarlton Stiles did perform one baptism in 1839.
 
With regard to the fathers 89% have been identified.
 
Eighty five were colonial born plus 14 were childhood arrivals, combined making up 
53% of the total; 62 were convicts or former convicts (34%) and four arrived free in 
the colony (2%).
 
With regard to the mothers 90% have been identified.
 
One hundred and thirty nine were colonial born plus five were childhood arrivals,
combined making up 78% of the total; 19 were convicts or former convicts (10%) and
five arrived free in the colony (2%).
 
Assuming listing the mother's surname indicates she was not married to 
the child's father, only fourteen (7%) of the births were illegitimate.
 
Wilberforce, being one of Governor Macquarie's famous Five Towns on the Hawkesbury
River, was by the 1830's a very stable settled community, representing the very 
epitomy of the old convict and emancipist societies, descended mainly from the earliest
felons transported to the colony, whom Macquarie had planted there, where they flourished 
and prospered. The emancipist character of the parish was to persist for many generations 
unlike other places, such as Sydney Town or Parramatta where, diluted by the influx of free
arrivals to the colony, they were rapidly loosing their original convict origins.
 
There were nine 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 0091 and run to 0249 when in April 1840 it was re-initialised, surprisingly
to B020 and ran to B039 by the end of the decade (the number 0236 was
duplicated).
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "SJW" 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.