BAPTISMS - ST MARYS WEST MAITLAND

 
 
There were 215 baptisms performed at St Marys West Maitland during the 
decade, although one refers to an adult born before 1831, plus 29 performed 
after 1840 for children born between the years 1831 and 1840. The first
baptism was performed on the 7th January 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.William Stack was appointed as the first chaplain in 1838 and remained until 1847.
During the decade he was assisted on occasions by Bishop William Broughton and the
Reverends; John Bolton, William Macquarie Cowper, George Rusden and Charles Wilton.
 
With regard to the fathers only 43% have been identified. It is almost certain that
most of the 57% unknown were free arrivals and arriving in the last couple of years
of the decade made identification extremely difficult.
 
Just nine were colonial born plus four were childhood arrivals, combined making up 
5% of the total; 47 were convicts or former convicts (20%), 37 arrived free in the 
colony (15%) and four were from the military (3%).
 
With regard to the mothers only 39% have been identified. This low figure is explained
for reasons similar to the fathers listed above.
 
Eighteen were colonial born plus four were childhood arrivals, combined making up 
9% of the total; 29 were convicts or former convicts (12%) and 45 arrived free in the 
colony (18%).
 
Assuming listing the mother's surname indicates she was not married to 
the child's father, only eleven (5%) of the births were illegitimate.
 
Notice the marked difference in demographics for this Hunter Valley parish, settled in the
late 1830's, compared to the Hawkesbury River parishes which were settled several decades 
earlier. The proportion of free arrivals is much greater with a corresponding reduction 
in the proportion of colonial born. It is obvious that the colony was rapidly loosing 
its convict foundation character. 
 
The reference number would direct the reader to the relevant entry in the 
original source document. The numbering  system commencing at 0001 ran to 0215 by the 
end the decade. (Number 0020 was duplicated and 0027 was omitted).
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "SMWM" 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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