The majority of the people in my tree are Church of England, which last time I looked was a Christian church, and it has infant baptism. On what are you basing your statement?
1 Like
Amusingly enough the Wikipedia article for ‘Infant baptism’ says the following:
“Most Christians belong to denominations that practice infant baptism” 
1 Like
Why? Why does this particular denomination require its own “Fact type”? Why do we not also have Roman Catholic Baptism, Church of England Baptism or Wesleyan Methodist Baptism?
1 Like
I have belonged to, in order, Presbyterian, Lutheran and Methodist churches. All practice infant baptism,
Rich
Because GEDCOM is a LDS invention and there are a number of LDS fact types and an option in RM for “LDS Support” in aid of a process followed by that denomination intended to improve the afterlife of deceased ancestors, possibly some of yours who have LDS descendants. RootsMagic, FamilySearch, Ancestry and a host of genealogy systems and services would not exist were it not for the devout interest of Mormons in this field.
See Genealogy is important to Mormons because they believe in eternal families.
1 Like
I’m sorry my sentence was not clear. I’m stuck for the correct word. Majority of denominations is not quite right but had in mind the many small standalone churches. Small community or family churches.
LDS baptism is quite different to what “Christening”, as I’m sure you are aware.
Catholics do sometimes use the term “christen” as an alternative word for the baptismal ceremony, but in Catholic practice there is no separate naming ceremony called christening
This is extremely dependent on time, place, and religion. In Norway the law specified baptism within a few days of birth (and a hjemmedøbt or home baptism by the midwife if the child wasn’t expected to live). Similar in Lutheran Germany. The Catholic records I’ve seen in Germany are also similar.
–Barbara
Sorry - don’t understand what you mean? Similar to what? Are you saying that German catholic baptism records don’t display names?
Catholic baptisms in Germany are similar to Lutheran baptisms in that they seem to happen within a few days of birth. Sorry if I didn’t say that clearly.
The same applied up to very recently in Ireland, but the child was always named in the ceremony, and the name(s) recorded in the baptism register.
I remember once overhearing a funny conversation in the local (civil) registrar’s office between a young man whose birth registration did not include his forename. He was advised to get a copy of his baptism record, but it transpired that both his parents were dead and he had no idea where he had been baptised. Unfortunately I never heard how the problem was solved as my business was completed before the end of the saga.
I have a family where 5 of them got baptised as a ‘job lot’ - ages ranging from 9 to 18 years. I always use ‘bef’ (Before) the baptism date for a birth date or burial for death. This is the most accurate date I can provide unless further evidence becomes available.
2 Likes
My only question on this would be “How do you know that their ages ranged from 9 to 18 if you don’t have some other form of evidence?”
My experience with non-infant baptisms is that the age or DOB of the person being baptised is often (not always!) given
Going back to the original post on this topic on the display of baptism or christening dates where no birth date exists it is interesting to note that in RM8 where no birth information is present, baptism or christening information is displayed differently. By default if a baptism event is used the year baptised is displayed in the Index List, but not on the People List or the individuals section of the Family page, however if Christen event is used the reverse occurs with the date preceded by the letter ‘c’ in the individuals section of the Family page. Why not for the sake of consistency display the information in all places, not just in some. How about that on the Index List and People List where there is no birth use the baptism date and failing that the christening date. Maybe it would make life too simple.
1 Like
Sharp observations. Not sure if it reflects any real change from RM7 or earlier versions of RM8. The algorithm for populating the Index Birth and Death Years is not necessarily involved in what gets displayed in more detailed areas.
As a new user of RM (now RM 9.1.3), I notice that the issue of Birth year display is still the same: when the Birth event is missing, the Individual Pedigree, Family and Descendants pages will use a Christen event, but not a Baptism event for display.
Arguments have been given about the possible time period between birth and baptism/christening, and I guess this is why there is also a Christen (adult) fact in RM. Why not also a Baptism (adult) fact type?
To allow all options, would it be possible to introduce a (display) setting to let users choose their preferred option? Something like: 'What to show if birth event is missing? Christen (ch…) / Baptism (ba…) / nothing
1 Like