Baptism

Churches that baptize infants, such as Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed, Presbyterian and Methodist congregations, usually recorded the child's name, the parents and the sponsors, and often the birth date as well. Baptists and other groups that baptize believers record adults or older children instead, usually as part of joining the church.

Do not treat a baptism date as a birth date. The gap can be days, months or, for a family far from a minister, several years, and several siblings were sometimes baptized on the same day.