Baptism Records for St Neot 1641 to 1837.

The "Remarks" made by some of the entries provide extra information, e.g. on page 14 against one the comment  "a strange woman" is entered!

Burial Records for St Neot

1641 to 1837

There are quite a number of entries in late 1830 and early 1831 that show there was Typhus here in the village.

There is space for comments to be made by the entries, only a minority have anything there. It is interesting to note that over 20 entries made in November and December 1830 and in January and February 1831 identify the cause of death as Typhus, with the exception of 1 person of 55 all are below 18 years of age with 8 being below 2.

The 2,6,5,and 1 before Typhus refers to the age of the child. On the bottom line the 11 before the word Influenza also refers to the age of the young girl from the Vicarage. Another entry shows a more unusual way of dying. A two year old is said to have been "killed by a Boar" in 1801.  

Death is obviously a sad occasion but there are two very sad records in the Books. They are listed alphabetically, one is listed as Mary Unknown in the "U" part, if you then look in the Baptism Book under "U" Mary Unknown is recorded as being baptised only two or three years earlier and is classified as "a base child" (a bastard). The burial record for her gives the day as 8th March but puts both 1817 and 1818 as possible dates, this may be a transcription error.

In the Baptism Book (page 58) John Unknown was baptised on the 7th January in either 1680 or 1681, again this may be a transcription error. All entries have the parent named, however, poor John has only the words "a strange woman" recorded as his parent! John has the very curt addition of "Base" (see above).

These comments are in memory of John & Mary, you're not forgotten!