Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi all,
Vanilla are planning an update to the site on April 24th (next Wednesday). It is a major PHP8 update which is expected to boost performance across the site. The site will be down from 7pm and it is expected to take about an hour to complete. We appreciate your patience during the update.
Thanks all.

Distinguishing between birth and baptism records

  • 22-06-2015 7:23pm
    #1
    leck
    Registered Users Posts: 1,357 ✭✭✭


    I haven't used familysearch.org for a long time, but just trying it out today to look up some records.

    A lot of my searches are bringing me to the collection "Ireland Births and Baptisms 1620-1881". Would I be right in thinking that these are mostly baptism records? When searching on ancestry, I always presume that the records I find in Select Births and Baptisms are baptism records.

    This is one example of a search result:
    Other information in the record of Bridget Fitzpatrick from Ireland Births and Baptisms
    Name: Bridget Fitzpatrick
    Gender: Female
    Christening Place: CLANMORRIS, MAYO, IRE
    Birth Date: 03 Jul 1874
    Birthplace: Clanmorris, Mayo, Ire
    Father's Name: Thomas Fitzpatrick
    Mother's Name: Ellen Corless
    Link: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FPBX-J7R.

    Although it says Christening Place, the date is listed as a Birth Date, but maybe they use the same field for birth and christening?
    Tagged:


Comments

  • #2
    pinkypinky
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,616 Mod ✭✭✭✭pinkypinky


    Some of the records in that particular database are extracted from civil records. The one above looks like an extract to me.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • #3
    Coolnabacky1873
    Registered Users Posts: 556 ✭✭✭Coolnabacky1873


    Almost all records on Familysearch come from microfilms at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. The citation under the record abstract contains the film number, in this case 255911

    Search the catalog by film/fiche number and it leads you to the microfilm:

    https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/452818?availability=Family%20History%20Library


  • #4
    shanew
    Registered Users Posts: 2,777 ✭✭✭shanew


    that's an extracted civil birth record, the 'christening' date and/or place captions on these are not correct. The 192 mentioned as part of the reference is the page number - see the corresponding index record https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FBMJ-WPK

    also, you sometimes see 'father's place of birth' as a caption on these, which is also incorrect, it's really father's place of residence


  • #5
    leck
    Registered Users Posts: 1,357 ✭✭✭leck


    Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »
    Almost all records on Familysearch come from microfilms at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. The citation under the record abstract contains the film number, in this case 255911

    Search the catalog by film/fiche number and it leads you to the microfilm:

    https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/452818?availability=Family%20History%20Library
    Thanks. Do you mention searching by film number to show me the source or is there any advantage to me of finding a record, the clicking on the link for the film number and searching there again?

    I suppose there will be times when the FHL film number might come up in searches on ancestry and I can then use that to find the record on the familysearch site.

    I think I've made a lot of mistakes with recording births as baptisms and vice versa. If one finds a baptism date that is earlier than the civil birth record for the same person, do you record them as they are listed or do you add a notation saying that the birth precedes the date of baptism?


  • #6
    Coolnabacky1873
    Registered Users Posts: 556 ✭✭✭Coolnabacky1873


    leck wrote: »
    Thanks. Do you mention searching by film number to show me the source or is there any advantage to me of finding a record, the clicking on the link for the film number and searching there again?

    I suppose there will be times when the FHL film number might come up in searches on ancestry and I can then use that to find the record on the familysearch site.

    I think I've made a lot of mistakes with recording births as baptisms and vice versa. If one finds a baptism date that is earlier than the civil birth record for the same person, do you record them as they are listed or do you add a notation saying that the birth precedes the date of baptism?

    It's just a useful way to find the source for records in databases with ambiguous titles, such as that one. But, you should also use the film number in the citation you create for Familysearch records.

    If possible, always try ang get a copy/scan/pic of the original record as transcriptions are prone to error, like the one highlighed above.


  • Advertisement
Advertisement