Baptism / Christening date - which one to record, if two?
A Community member has raised this issue at https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/139395/baptisms#latest, but it appears this query relates to a batch he is indexing, rather than a general (Family Tree) input question.
I often come across two baptisms for the same individual - perhaps private and public, or established church and non-conformist. It seems logical to record the earlier date (which will obviously be closer to the birth date - often unknown), but wonder if other Family Tree users do likewise.
Assuming it is "standard practice" to input the earlier baptism / christening date to the Christening (vital) field on the Details page, should the second baptism be added as a Custom Event?
I stress the argument here does not concern terminology (christening v. baptism) or adult baptism, just those instances where the likely scenario concerns a situation where it looked as if the child might not survive, so was baptised (usually at home) very soon after birth, a public event taking place once the child was in a fit enough state to be taken to the parish church.
Best Answers
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I agree that the earlier, private event better serves the purpose of the field under Vitals: it's a better proxy for the birthdate and birthplace. I suppose it then makes sense to enter the later event under Other Information, but I'm glad such second baptisms were not practiced in my ancestors' part of the world, because I'm in the habit of nearly-automatically deleting/moving baptisms from Other.
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It probably depends on the specific time, culture, and situation. In Norwegian parishes this was so common that later registers actually have three columns for dates:
They are Birth Date, Baptism date (also for home baptized), and For Home Baptized: Baptism Ratification Date.
I was told years ago by someone that in Norway this third date was not considered a re-baptism, but a presentation at the church for the priest to certify that the baptism had been completed. I have no idea what the ceremony consisted of, whether if watching it might have have looked like a baptism or if it was just some type of presentation of the infant to the congregation.
I doubt there is any standard practice, but what I do for home baptisms is to put the early date and the home residence under christening then put in the reason statement, "Home baptism. Ratified at [name of church] on [date of ratification].
I would handle this differently if, for example, someone was baptized in a Protestant church at birth and then years later baptized in the Catholic church. Then I would put the later baptism as a custom event with a good reason statement as to why it should stay there.
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