Case study week 45 – 2022
When was Ingebrich Thomasen Skjeggedal baptized?
Here is a problem I was asked to look into on a genealogy group on Facebook
In 1808 Ingebrich, the son of Thomas Mikelsen and Britte Ingebrictsdatter Skjeggedal was baptized in Kinsarvik parish, Hordaland county, Norway.
The original record can be found here, bottom right page:
Ullensvang sokneprestembete, SAB/A-78701/H/Haa: Parish register (official) no. A 8, 1804-1835, p. 15
Quick link: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20070522640284
Hover mouse over picture to enlarge
As we study the record we see that the dates are not chronologically entered and the question is; When was Ingebrich baptised?
We do not always find the churchbooks to be recorded chronologically. This is often due to the fact that the minister visited several churches in his parish. As he didn’t bring the big churchbook with him, he took notes on loose sheets of paper and entered these notes into the churchbook when he was back at the rectory. Examples of these notes has been found. (Thorvaldsen 1996:84).
The transcribed version of this record has January 1. as the baptismal date. it can be found here:
https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/255/pd00000011320594
To me it looks like it says “1ste Jan fød 3. ej døbt” Meaning born on January 1, baptized the 3. ej → ejusdem(latin) – the same (here refering to the month). January 3. was a Sunday in 1808. We can check the calendar here
They didn’t normally record the birth date in this period. In rural areas the children were supposed to be baptized within 8 days of their birth (Thorvaldsen 1996:89). In cases where birthdates were recorded, we learn that it could often go much longer before a child was baptized. Maybe the child being baptised so shortly after the birth was something that was unusual in this parish, and the minister decided to make a note of it.
I can, of course, be totally wrong about this as the record is hard to read. Comment below and share your opinion about this record.
You might be interested in reading my article about the Norwegian churchbooks
Sources:
Gunnar Thorvaldsen, Håndbok i registrering av historiske data (Oslo: Aschehoug 1996)
