BAPTISMS - WESLEYAN-METHODIST CHAPELS

 
 
This list records 20 Wesleyan-Methodist chapels and parishes established 
after 1830, (in nine cases regrettably the date of establishment has not 
been determined but is presumed to be after 1840) all of which recorded less 
than one hundred baptisms for children born between 1831 and 1840. When 
combined these chapels and parishes totalled 421 baptisms, with 62 occuring 
post 1840. Sadly, to date the baptismal registers of all are yet to be transcribed. 
In their absence an alternative source of information is the State Archive 
Pioneer Series of births. 
 
The chapels and parishes listed are as follows, arranged by date of 
establishment:
 
 1832: Sydney {SYDW}
 1832: Bathurst; Hill End {BATH}
 1834: Field of Mars; Parramatta {FIEL}
 1836: Windsor {WIND}
 1836: Goulburn; Gunning; Yass (Co. Argyle) {YASS}
 1836: Wollongong {WOLL}
 1837: Hunter River District; Newcastle {HUNT}
 1837: East Maitland; Maitland; West Maitland {MAIT}
 1838: Lower Hawkesbury {LH-W}
 1840: Melborune; Port Phillip District {MELW}
 1840: Geelong; Port Phillip District {GEEW}
  : Kempsey; Port Macquarie {KEMP}
 : Alexandria {ALEX}
 : Balmain {BALM}
 : Bega; Moruya {BEGA}
 : Camden {CAMD}
 : Macdonald River {MACD}
 : Portland Head {PORT}
 : Randwick {RAND}
 : Camden; Liverpool; Penrith; Narellan; Picton (Primitive 
Methodists) {PRIM}
 
The State Archive records contain less information than the chapel registers, 
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
 
Unlike the Anglican parishes, the reference number gives no indication 
as to the year of baptism. However following the sequence of the reference 
order numbers a reasonable estimate can be made, although in this instance as 
noted above this has not been possible for 63 of the baptisms.
 
Thus information missing from the parish baptismal register includes five 
extra items of information:
 
 date of baptism 
 date of birth
 abode
 fathers quality or profession 
 officiating minister
 
Also missing from these parishes, 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 chapel order as per the list above then chronological 
within each church.
 
Assuming listing the mother's surname indicates she was not married to 
the child's father, only one of the births was 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 (%).
 
The reference number would direct the reader to the relevant entry in the 
original source document. 
 
Entries on this list have one of the reference identifiers as listed above. 
To locate an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the 
name would be made on Lists 1 or 2 from which a reference identifier and 
reference number would be retrieved, secondly using the appropriate reference 
identifier and reference number, the baptism would be located on this list. 

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