Advice - Catholic Baptism Records Microfilm at National Lib Ireland

Question

Advice regarding a Catholic Baptism I found at the National Library Ireland.

If a child died after they were recorded in the register was it normal process for the record to be marked with an (x) to show that the child is dead?

I believe NLI do not allow you to reproduce their record images, so I have added a link below to the person I am most interested in :

August 1848

19 x James Bell , of John x Alicia Kennedy, Mahergaboy

sp. Ann Johnston

https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000633168#page/53/mode/1up

The reason I ask is I came across another Baptism  entry of a James Bell for the  27 March 1851 , with parents same as above ..

https://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000633168#page/70/mode/1up

Thanks

Lesley

Answer 1

Often, the parish priest would note the death of a parishioner by marking a small cross in the baptismal registry.  The mark most often, but not always, looks like the small cross that follows the baptismal record for the first James Bell.  It is possible that John and Alicia named their next born son, James, which was not uncommon in that era if the previous child had died. In this case, the first James probably died before 27 March 1851.

Comments

Hi JT

Thank you very much for responding. I hadn't come across this before so I thought I'd throw it by the Wikitree members  so see what others thought.

You confirm what I was thinking when I saw the second baptism, sadly the burials are not available for the possible death of the 1st James...