My question regards national catastrophes such as deadly epidemics.

Question

I have some ancestors born around 1665-1666 the last year of the Black Death (The Plague) in London.  These particular individuals have very little in the way of sources. e.g.  Christening is one problem.  It is self-evident I guess that you wouldn't expose a baby to the virulent streets of London if you could avoid doing so.  Do you think that his type of catastrophe could effect the entering of records...l

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plague_of_London

Answer 1

I have no proof to back it up, but I would definitely think so!

Comments

"Bring out your dead" certainly wouldn't result in good burial records.

Answer 2

Probably; I have been unable to find a christening record in Ireland for my great-great-grandfather (born 1845) or his brother (born 1847); one imagines with the famine and the sheer number of deaths/sickness that recording these events may not have been a priority (my 3rd great-uncle became a Catholic priest, and apparently attempted to secure some record of his birth/christening, and was unsuccessful).