BAPTISMS - ST MATTHEWS WINDSOR CATHOLIC

 
 
The first baptism was performed at St Matthews on the 1st January 1835 by 
the Rev.Father Dowling. There were 408 baptisms performed during the years 
1835 to 1840, although 42 refer to children (and adults) born before 1831, 
plus 32 performed after 1840 for children born between the years 1831 and 1840. 
On average there were just over one baptism performed every week.
 
The information recorded for each baptism includes: 
 
 date of baptism 
 date of birth
 child's Christian name
 father's family name 
 father's Christian name 
 father's year & ship of arrival in the colony 
 father's status upon arrival in the colony 
 mother's maiden name
 mother's Christian name
 mother's year & ship of arrival in the colony
 mother's status upon arrival in the colony
 parents' civil status at the time of the child's birth
 parents' marital status at the time of the child's birth
 parents' year & country/church of marriage where applicable 
 child's place of birth
 father's quality or profession 
 officiating minister
 reference number
 
Father's year & ship of arrival in the colony, father's status upon arrival in the colony, 
mother's year & ship of arrival in the colony, mother's status upon arrival in the colony, 
parents' civil status at the time of the child's birth, parents' marital status 
at the time of the child's birth, parents' year & country/church of marriage 
where applicable are all value added details resulting from extensive personal 
research, information which makes this work so valuable for family historians.
 
The name of the parish is somewhat misleading, since it covered an area much larger than
just Windsor, the whole of the Hawkesbury-Nepean valley infact.
 
Twenty of the 42 'baptisms' of persons born before refer to adults and these were
not strictly 'baptisms' in the theological meaning of the word, since they were conversions 
to catholocism from other Christian faiths. And indeed this is acknowledged in the
register itself by referring to the ceremony as "being received into the church".
 
The baptismal register for this parish is almost unique, in that all the mother's family
names are recorded, which is wonderful for the family historian. However it does leave
the problem of trying to determine which of the couples were married and which were not.
There is documentary evidence for 160 couples being married, a further 32 can be identified
because the family name is the same as the father's (these presumabley were overseas
marriages and in fact most refer to the military) and a further 50 refer to free arrivals
(which again suggests an overseas marriage). But this only makes up 55% of the total baptisms
meaning that 45% of births were illegitimate, which is patently most unlikely given the
illegitamacy rate for all other parishes in the area. 
 
The list is presented in chronological order by date of baptism then by reference
number. The records in the register are not always in strict chronological order 
but this has been corrected in this work.
 
Where a name is followed by a question mark (?) it indicates that the spelling of
the name is not certain due to the difficulty of reading the microfilm. Unfortunately
the microfilming was of poor quality making and added to which the handwriting was 
also difficult to decipher at times as well. Also annoying ws the fact that sometimes
onm left sided pages the copying cut out the day of the month of the baptism.
 
The Rev.Father Christopher Vincent Dowling was appointed as the first chaplain in 1835
but he only remained until April. The Rev.Father William Bernard Ullathorn replaced him
but he only remained untilm October. The Rev.Father James Vincent Corcoran replaced him
and he remained unitl October 1837. The Rev.Father Henry Gregory Gregory replaced him
but only until the end of the year when Rev.Father John Brady replaced him in 1838 and
he remained for the rest of the decade. Other chaplains who perfromed occational baptisms
included the Rev.Fathers; William J Dunne, Charles Lovat, John McEncroe, William? Moran,
Doctor John Bede Poulding, Thomas Slattery & Joseph Charles Sumner.
 
With regard to the fathers only 63% have been identified. 
 
Sixty nine were colonial born plus three were childhood arrivals, combined making up 
16% of the total; 158 were convicts or former convicts (36%), 15 arrived free in the 
colony (3%) and 33 were in the military (8%).
 
With regard to the mothers likewise only 63% have been identified. 
 
One hundred and ten were colonial born plus twenty were childhood arrivals, combined 
making up 29% of the total; 82 were convicts or former convicts (19%) and 65 arrived 
free in the colony (18%). 
 
Assuming listing the mother's surname indicates she was not married to 
the child's father, eleven (6%) of the births were illegitimate.
 
It is not clear why the identication rate is so low for this parish because
the Hawkesbury region was one of the earliest and most stable settlements in the 
colony and as seen in the Anglican parishes in the area there were very few new 
and free arrivals. It is hard to know why the 37% of parents can't be found
in other supporting colonial records.
 
Baptisms relating to births prior to 1831 are indicated with a hash sign 
(#), duplicate baptisms are indicated with an asterix (*) and baptisms for 
children born at sea with a percent sign (%).
 
There were thirteen baptisms in the State Archives Pioneer Series file which 
have no entry on this parish register. It is very likely that most of 
these result from typographical errors and relate to post 1840 births. These 
are identified with the percent sign (%). 
 
The reference number would direct the reader to the relevant entry in the 
original source document. The numbering system commencing at 0001 ran to 0412
by the end of decade. But things became very confused in 1840 and 1841. Numbers 
0391 to 0397 apply to 1841 baptisms and 0401 to 0412 apply to 1840 baptisms. 
(The numbers 0094, 0143, 0270, 0292, 0326, 401 were all duplicated and numbers 
0155 and 0306 were omitted). Three entries were duplicated.
 
Entries on this list have the reference identifier "SMWR" on Lists 1 & 2. To 
locate an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the name would 
be made on Lists 1 or 2 from which the reference number would be retrieved, 
secondly using the appropriate number, the entry would be located.

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