BURIALS - ST MICHAELS: DAPTO; ILLAWARRA: WOLLONGONG

 
 
The first burial was performed at this parish on the 30th January 1834 by 
the Rev.Frederick W Wilkinson. During the remainder of the decade there 
were 48 more burials performed. 
 
The information recorded for each burial is as follows:
 burial date
 death date (after 1838)
 Christian name
 family name
 age
 abode
 civil status at time of death
 year and ship of arrival
 quality or profession
 officiating minister
 reference number
 
Various miscellaneous remarks in the register have been recorded as 
'end-notes' at the bottom of the list.
 
The burials are listed in chronological order. 
 
The Rev.Frederick W Wilkinson was appointed the first chaplain to the 
parish in 1834 and remained until 1836. Then the Rev.Matthew Devenish 
Meares was the chaplain from 1837 for the rest of the decade.
 
At the time of commencement of this parish the information to be recorded 
on the official government supplied forms for each burial was; reference 
number, date of burial, Christian name of the deceased, family name of 
the deceased, age, abode, ship or arrival, quality or profession and 
officiating minister. 
 
Regrettably in 1839 the 'Ship of Arrival' column was removed from the 
official forms altogether but it was still occasionally recorded by 
nothing like as often as previously. The year and ship of arrival have 
been heavily researched outside the parish register.
 
The 'Ship of Arrival' column was replaced by a 'Date of Death' column,
making identification much more difficult.
 
For the colonial born their year of birth and parents names are recorded 
in the 'Ship of Arrival' column.
 
The ages at death ranged from ten days for William Rickett to 68 years 
for Thomas Legg. The number of infants who did not live past their fifth 
birthday was 15 or 31% of all burials. The ages of six adults were not 
recorded.
 
Despite extensive research the identity of the deceased at this parish 
has only been discovered in 38 (or 78% of) cases during this decade.
 
The reference number would direct the reader to the relevant entry 
in the original source document. 
 
The reference numbers for this parish run sequentially from 0001 to 0022 
at the end of the year 1838. The numbers were re-initialized in 1839 
to B001 and reached B027 by the end of the decade.
 
To locate an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the 
name would be made on List 5 using code "SMWO" from which the date of 
burial would be retrieved, secondly using the appropriate date, the 
burial would then be located on this list.

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