Catholic parish registers may record the date of birth or the date of baptism or both. The index will show both where available.
INFORMATION IN A CPR BIRTHS & BAPTISMS RECORD
Do not expect too much from CPR birth & baptism records. The amount of information recorded can be variable and in many cases will contain little information over and above that contained in the index entry.
At best: name of the child, whether legitimate or not, date of birth and/or date of baptism, father's name, mother's name and maiden surname, place or parish of residence, occupation of the father and names (and sometimes occupations) of witnesses. Occasionally, as in, for example, Ardkenneth, witnesses' relationship to thechild (if any) may be recorded.
At worst: the mother's name is not recorded at all between certain years,or the entry does not record the sex of the child and the name is ambiguous.
Check Extant Catholic Parish Registers to find out whether baptisms and births exist for the parish in which you are interested and in which years. If the parish wasn’t founded by the date you are looking for, you may have to look at neighbouring older parishes which covered larger geographical areas. If you are unsure of where a particular Catholic parish is located, look at Catholic Parish Maps.
CPR Images
Images of birth & Baptisms from 1703 to 1908 are available to view. CPR images are stored in a JPEG format. There is an option on the "MyDetails " page to select the size of the image. CPR images are displayed as standard using Lowest image compression, but you may vary the size by selecting from None (no compression) up to Highest (most compression). The highest compression gives the smallest file size and therefore is quicker to view/download.
Image Description
A description of each image incorporating search name, image type and reference number and the date and time that the image was generated, can be found at the top of each image. If you would prefer not to display these details, uncheck the "Image Description Appears In Image" box on the "MyDetails" page.
Use the information that you find on a CPR births& baptisms entry to further your search:
- The parents' names (if both are recorded) will help pinpoint a marriage.
- Record any information on sponsors and their family connection (if any), since these can be invaluable in determining the correct line.
- Use the location of the birth or baptism to track the family through the census records.
- Bear in mind that it was quite common for families, in an era of high infant mortality, to name a subsequent child after a dead sibling, so check that you have the correct child's entry.