Discover your ancestors who were baptised in Carmarthenshire, Wales. The records may reveal when and where your relatives were baptized and the name of their parents, which would allow you to fill in more branches of your family tree.
Discover your ancestors who were baptised in Carmarthenshire, Wales. The records may reveal when and where your relatives were baptized and the name of their parents, which would allow you to fill in more branches of your family tree.
Transcript
Each record comprises a transcript and black and white image of the original register. The amount of information listed varies, but the records usually include a combination of the following information about your ancestor:
First name(s)
Last name
Birth year
Birth date
Baptism year
Baptism date
Father’s first name(s)
Mother’s first name(s)
Place
County
Country
Image
The image may contain additional details, including:
Father’s occupation
Residence
Officiating minister
Other details, including sponsor’s name, if adopted, if “illegitimate”, child’s age (if not an infant)
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a Welsh unitary authority which has the same boundaries as the original administrative county of Carmarthenshire. It is no longer an administrative county – that was abolished in 1974 - but it is one of 13 historic counties. Even though Llanelli is by far the largest town in Carmarthenshire, its county town is Carmarthen, because of its central location.
Children Born Outside Marriage
In England, the 1235 Statute of Merton states that “He is a bastard that is born before the marriage of his parents.” The use of the word “bastard” continued through the 16th century, with the Poor Law of 1576 forming the basis of English bastardy law. It aimed to punish the child’s unmarried mother and putative father and to relieve the parish from the cost of supporting the mother and child.
The language changed in the 20th century, with the introduction of the Legitimacy Act 1926, which legitimized the birth of a child in England and Wales if the parents later married each other. The act refers to the child of unmarried parents as “the illegitimate person.”
Spurious is an archaic term for illegitimate.
Baptism Records
Baptism records state the date and place an individual was baptised into a church, and are an essential part of researching your family history. In most records, the parents of the individual being baptised are included, and these are often the key to finding out the names of the previous generation. Children were generally baptized within a few weeks of birth.