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Archiver > CHESHIRE > 2005-01 > 1105143297


From: "Allan Fazldeen" <>
Subject: RE: Baptists & Soldiers
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2005 10:14:57 +1000
In-Reply-To: <014801c4f4ad$1a503480$7b604fcb@Blanche>


Thank you for that information Blanche. I have a copy of the sermon
preached at the funeral of Samuel Ecking, but it only mentions family
fleetingly - no names. I also have some essays written by him and an
outline of his history, but again no names of his wife or children.

I have checked the internet site for Wills for both Samuel Ecking and
Thomas Sim, but found nothing. Samuel was only 27 when he died and had
probably not considered making a well although he was said to have known
he was going to die a couple of days before.

I will follow up on the ideas you have given. Thank you.

Trish
-----Original Message-----
From: Blanche Charles [mailto:]
Sent: Friday, 7 January 2005 9:18 PM
To: Allan Fazldeen;
Subject: Re: Baptists & Soldiers


Hello Trish,

Greetings from a new lister. I share your frustration in looking for
Baptist records, but if you're lucky enough to find any existing
records, you may find a wealth of information. While I can't advise you
about Cheshire Baptist records, I can perhaps give you some information
about General Baptists, in general. :-)

In the first place, as you have noted, in accordance with their beliefs,
there were no infant baptisms, but the Baptists did have Registers of
Births, which, if they survived, were deposited in the PRO (now The
National Archives). These have been filmed by the LDS, and to find them,
check the LDS Library Catalogue for Chester, (or any other place or
parish of interest).

Since your forebears were Ministers, another good source of information
is an obituary in the Baptist Magazine - again, some of these have been
filmed by the LDS. A search of the Library Catalogue will give you the
film numbers.

You can also contact the librarian at Regent's Park College, in Oxford
(the Baptist HQ) who will search their indexes for you and send copies
of anything of relevance. (There is a fee for a 30-min search, but well
worth it!):

Mrs. Susan J. Mills, MA, MCLIP
Librarian
Regent's Park College
Pusey St.
OXFORD, OX1 2LB.
Tel. 01865 288142
Fax. 01865 288121
email:

A helpful small book is "My Ancestors were Baptists", by Geoffrey R
BREED. It's available from most FH societies, and may be in your local
library. There have also been Baptist histories published over the years
- worth checking to see if anything has been written for Cheshire, as
these often include biographical material. (Sue Mills, above, will
know).

For background history, you may find these books in your local library:
"A History of the English Baptists", by A C Underwood (1947); or "The
Baptist Union - A Short History", by Ernest Payne (1959).

Another thought: have you looked for a will for Samuel? I've found that
most of my Baptist forebears left wills, so again, you may be lucky.

Lastly, I recently set up a website for the history of the General
Baptists in the East Midlands. While not your region of interest, you
may be interested to check out some of the links from the "Links" page
from the URL in my signature. (You can also see, from the biographical
material on my site, the sort of information which you may be lucky
enough to find). I hope you may find something which could help:

Kind regards,

Blanche Charles (nee Norton)
Wellington
New Zealand

NORTON Family History Unlimited
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~blanchec/indexdby.htm

East Midlands General Baptist History
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~blanchec/EMidBaps.htm

-----------------------
On Thursday, January 06, 2005 2:51 PM, Trish <>
wrote:

Can anyone advise me if there is some way of tracing births in the
1780's if there was no infant baptism? My forebears were Baptist
ministers. I am wondering if there was a dedication or thanksgiving
service on the birth of a child - or perhaps a naming ceremony. Can
anyone tell me if this was so, and if there is any way of following
through.

I know that Samuel ECKING was "invited to Chester to preach" in 1871 and
was appointed Pastor in April 1783. I believe that Samuel was the
father of Jane Ecking who was 23 when she married in 1809. Jane had a
sister Mary, and a brother (name unknown) who died as a child. I do not
know if there were other children, but Samuel died in 1785, aged 27.

I know that Samuel conducted a school in Chester as well as preaching
(but I don't know where), and I know that Mary also conducted a boarding
school for girls in Chester. Jane lived with Mary after her husband
died, and at least some of Jane's daughters also lived and taught with
Mary.

<snipped>
Trish

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