Baptism Connections

I thought I would have a look at baptism records and see how they can help within the family tree. This is easiest to do with the Westhoff side, as the baptism records also show who the godparents were. The C of E records tend only to show the name of the parents, they can give other clues, but I will look at some of those another day.

John Jacob and Mary Ann (Mooney) Westhoff are Dermot's 2nd great grandparents and they had 7 children and I have the baptism records for all of them.

1856 John Michael, born 21 January, baptised 6 May
1858 Martin, born 14 June, baptised 1 August
1859 John Augustine, born 5 August, baptised 28 August
1862 Frederick William, born 5 February, baptised 19 February
1864 Henrietta, born 8 July, baptised 9 August
1867 Edward James, born 27 March, baptised 21 April
1869 Henry, born 5 February, baptised 21 February

All of the above records give the name of the mother as Mary Ann Mooney, this is really useful information, as sometimes, this can be difficult to find.

From the dates alone we do not get a lot of information. However, when we look at where the baptisms took place, it tells us when John Jacob and Mary Ann moved to Liverpool. Their first 3 children were all baptised in London, so giving us an indication that between 28 August 1859 and 5 February 1862, they moved to Liverpool.

So, can we get any further information from the godparents?

The godparents of John Michael were John Mooney and Anne Mooney. It is a tantalising clue, as I do not have any records earlier than 1855 for Mary Ann Mooney (marriage record), despite much searching. John and Anne may be brother and sister or a sister in law, so far I have not been able to find them on any records, so I still do not know how or if they were related to Mary Ann.

Martin's godmother was Hanora Murphy and I have not been able to find anything further on her.

John Augustine's godmother was Susan G Egan (name not clear) and again, I haven't been able to find anything on her.

The godmother of Frederick William is Julia Westhoff, she was the wife of Martin Westhoff and they emigrated to America. Martin may have been John Jacob's cousin, although the relationship so far has not been confirmed.

So far, the other godparents have not given any more clues, but it is a good reason to look very carefully at all the records found. When I first started the "Tree" I was only interested in the dates and failed to realise what other gems I was missing. It is a slow job, but I am gradually revisiting all the old records, to make sure that I have not missed anything.

Although a little difficult to read, the above is the baptism record for John Michael Westhoff. He was baptised with the name Joannes Michael and he was recorded with the name Westoff, rather than Westhoff.