Thomas Chilvers, born C1734, married Judith Websdeal on 13th Nov 1757 at Thelverton, Norfolk. They had 5 children; Thomas, born Dickleburgh 21st June 1768, baptised 25th Jul 1762 at All Saints, Dickleburgh. Charles, Robert and John were all baptised on 23rd May 1779. Elizabeth, baptised 29th May 1792. I have been unable to find a date of birth for the 4 youngest children. Any ideas would be appreciated. Sandra
I would imagine that there will be no way of finding out, Sandra, more's the pity. So many clergymen didn't write the date of birth, even for a mass baptism like this; I think they considered that it was the baptism which counted. In researching one particular line of my family, all born in a tiny village where presumably the vicar was not the most educated - or top of his class, perhaps - I came across a lot of mass baptisms (apparently it saved money to have them all done at once) and the vicar or curate never put in the date of birth. In this same village, it appears that my 2 x great-grandmother was baptised twice: once in 1815 and then again with her brother in 1825. I thought it more likely that a child of the same name had died, and another one been given the same name, but there are no corresponding burial records. On the censuses she usually seems to put an age corresponding to 1815, so I have to assume that she was baptised twice, unless she was confirmed when she was 10 and it was entered in the baptisms! This is what I got used to when I first started genealogy, along with marriages before 1837 of inhabitants of the same village sharing about three surnames and five or six first names, which made being sure of who married whom nigh on impossible. Imagine my stupor and sheer delight when A. put Liverpool records on-line, and there was a column for date of birth, date of baptism, name of child, father's name, address and occupation, mother's name plus maiden name and even her father's name. I couldn't believe the difference!
Sandra, have you thought of going via death records? mayhap they'll offer something. Did you actually see PRs or Bt images of just the translations. If they can be found the births may be in one or the other.
Although it doesn't give a date of birth, on Freereg it does say that that at the time of baptism Robert was 10 years old and John was 7 years. On Charles' there is a note that says "There Is An Unclear Notation After The Entry Which Looks To Relate To The Fact The Person Was A Number Of Years Old At This Time"
Have you seen this baptism on FreeFeg Thomas Chilvers Baptism Date 25 Jul 1762, St Leonard Billingford (Earsham), Norfolk Father: Thomas, Mother Judith Family Search has Thomas Chilvers Christening Date: 25 Jul 1762, Billingford (near Scole), Norfolk, England Father: Thomas, Mother Judith Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I07421-6 , GS Film number: 2262381 Billingford is only just over 3.5 miles from Dickleburgh
Thanks for that Chimp and Ma, I did have that entry for Thomas - just got carried away with my post as everything else he did was at Dickleburgh! I have also seen some images as Norfolk has a great deal of info on line - and quite a bit free. So far, the deaths/burials don't help much - but backwards ever backwards I head.(and that's not just the geneology) Sandra
