Perhaps the problems in baptismal record keeping can be summed up in the record for George Rodt, who was baptized at St. Joseph's Catholic Church. The record reads, "George Rodt, son of Thomas and Mary, born 28 September 1778 and baptized 30 October 1778." To the end of this record, the priest added, "I think."
The biggest problem in using baptismal records is gaps. Pastor competence and availability are causes. Problems occur because of turmoil and discord in the congregation, or because of some outside social or political factor. The register of the Germantown Lutheran Church has a gap from 29 November 1777 to 13 July 1778. The register tells why, "The arrival of British troops interrupted the service." [This harkens back to the late seventeenth century in Germany, when the pastors could have written, "The arrival of the French troops interrupted the service."] During this period, parents often took their children to other churches, where the minister was still on duty.
Rural churches often had gaps due to the unavailability of pastors. It was hard to attract ministers to rural churches, especially the smaller ones. It often pays the researcher to total the baptisms by year in a church. Unusually low counts indicate some problems, and may be the reason that an expected baptism is not present.
As another example, John Humphrey cites that James Boyd was born in one county, baptized in another county, with the baptism recorded in a third county. Sometimes the birth occurred in one state and was recorded in another state, e.g., in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which are separated by the Delaware River. Some pastors, serving more than one church, were prone to record all of the information in just one book.
Rev. Muhlenberg, patriarch of the Lutheran Church, was guilty of not doing his book work. He records, for example, in his journal, that he performed twenty-two baptisms one morning, yet the record books do not show any baptisms for that date.
Given the difficulty of finding a pastor, the incompleteness with which the records were kept, and the dangers inherent in keeping the records safely, it is a wonder that we have as much information as we do.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.