3 Months between birth and baptism....

dido2

So we've been on the trail of my GM for the last year, my aunt has been on the trail of ny nan and her son she gave up for adoption, happily a few weeks ago her long lost son made contact with the family and it's just been great and this has spurred us on even more!
So the details are that my nan was baptised in Cork on the 9th May 1926, parents were named but "of Dublin" was where the parents address should be.... but today my Aunt got to see my nans school record which has her DOB as the 16th of February 1926, different surname to the baptism record but a recognised name at that...
So now wer'e wondering how it all ties together, the family story was that a woman from possibly kildare came to cork for some reason, was married, got pregnant by a man and couldn't keep the baby (my nan) and gave her to a "friend" a lot of her life is a hazy and not really tied together yet but we feel we're getting there and there are already a few strong possibles for her birth record...
So i'm just looking for some input about this kind of situation, why it would have taken so long to get her baptised being the one and big question at a time when babies were more or less baptised the minute they were born....

annieoburns

It is only a Roman Catholic tradition to baptise a baby soon after birth - even a nurse taking them from the maternity hospital direct to nearest church. This would be to do with a baby ending up in limbo if it died unbaptised. Limbo is now abolished:)

The Protestant tradition is more practical and a three month delay would be more normal to allow for the child to survive to decent age before bothering to go through with ceremony and all it entailed. It also allowed for a bit of thought to be put into names, sponsors etc and for the mother to have recovered from delivery.

dido2

my gm was catholic!

She also only went to school until 3rd class too, and my aunt remembers being told she went to another school in the city at one point too

lottpaul

A few things -- the school record re the date of birth would have been based purely on what the parent told the Principal etc. No certs etc would have been required in those days. Therefore it would seem that February would be right.


Is it possible that this was in effect a "second" baptism -- an official/public ceremony when the baby had been placed with her new family? This might have been done if the first baptism was done quickly and privately in a hospital, especially if there was something of a cloud over the birth as it were.

Has anyone seen a copy of a birth cert which would surely give an accurate birth date at least?

dido2

We've so far not been able to find a birth cert but with the new date i'm going to try the local births, marriages and deaths office on monday to see if theres a cert, if not we'll go to dublin next to look at the records to see if anything sticks out as being a possibility

I'm not sure if the baptism was a public show because the record has parents names, who weren't actually around ever in my GM's life that we can tell, a woman who was used as a C/O for the parents and the godparents are that woman and her nephew.....

samina

dido2 wrote: »

I'm not sure if the baptism was a public show because the record has parents names, who weren't actually around ever in my GM's life that we can tell, a woman who was used as a C/O for the parents and the godparents are that woman and her nephew.....

Perhaps there is a later baptism then? The one you have may be from the first. that may be why there is a difference in the surname.

I know one of my children has 2 baptism records in 2 separate parishes months apart due to I'll health. Anyone looking for him would stop at the first not real using there could be a second

dido2

Hi Samina

The baptism we have is for the later date in May, the earlier one we don't know if there is another baptism or not...

It's all the name changing for that is confusing us but to my dad his mother was always known as Mona W, which was the name on the school record, and the name she used on her sons birth cert was Mary W, the other name Maria Monica F is the name used on the baptism and her marriage cert and to us grandchildren this was her maiden name.....
I have found a few possibles for February but it's hard to know which way to go with them because it's looking very like that she was actually M.W.