BAPTISMS - ST THOMAS SACKVILLE REACH

 
 
There were 73 baptisms performed at St Thomas Sackville Reach during the 
decade, although 4 refer to children born before 1831. This being 
47 more than the previous decade. There were no baptisms performed in 
1837. On average there was roughly seven baptisms performed each year 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.
 
The list is presented in chronological order by date of baptism then 
alphabetically by father's surname. The records in the register are not 
always in strict chronological order but this has been corrected in this work.
 
The Reverend Matthew Devenish Meares continued as rector of this parish until 
the end of 1836. The Rev.Henry Stiles was chaplain in 1837 (although he performed no
baptisms that year) then the Reverend John Keane took over for the remainder of the decade. 
The Rev.Henry Stiles did perform two baptisms in 1840 and interestingly the Wesleyan 
Missionary William Simpson performed three baptisms and fellow Wesleyan William Schofield 
performed two baptisms at St Thomas's. On three occastions no clergyman was recorded.
 
With regard to the fathers 88% have been identified.
 
Thirty five were colonial born plus seven were childhood arrivals, thus
combined making up 58% of the total; 21 were former convicts (there were
no serving convicts amongst the fathers) (29%) and one arrived free in the 
colony (1%).
 
With regard to the mothers 92% have been identified.
 
Fifty eight were colonial born plus five were childhood arrivals, thus
combined making up 85% of the totala and five were convicts or former convicts (7%).
 
Assuming listing the mother's surname indicates she was not married to 
the child's father, eight (11%) of the births were illegitimate.
 
Sackville Reach was another of those lovely old Hawkesbury Towns, whilst not
one of Governor Macquarie's famous Five Towns, was steeped in its convict
origins which it retained for many generations, bypassed so to speak of the
changes taking place of other regions of the colony.
 
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 0102 and run to 0174 by the end of the decade.
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "STSR" 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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