It looks like the correct answer is "it depends." Probably more than you want to know on the subject: http://alanmacfarlane.com/TEXTS/bastardy.pdf
On Wednesday, February 5, 2014 4:51 PM, "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
I should have known the discussion would veer off the main topic to
slavery,
though my main question was about bastard children of ANY color being
baptized
by the Anglican Church, which I had thought was against canon law. (Paul, I
didn't mean to imply I only got that notion from *Tess of the
d'Urbervilles*--I
just threw that in for some humor.)--Craig Kilby
Original email:
-----------------
From: Jon Kukla [log in to unmask]
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2014 12:47:33 -0500
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Baptism of bastard children in the Colonial Church
There's plenty of evidence of slaves being baptized in reports back to
England, both to bishop of London and in the friends of Dr. Bray stuff like
that which John Van Horne edited.
Maury's letter struck me as kind of self-righteous ... from a guy who
had found a nifty way of taking the moral high ground while also delighting
in the fact that he was annoying less than favorite parishioners.
On a similar note, a long-time pastor friend once commented that it was
too easy to succumb to the temptation of preaching hell-fire and brimstone
because it was like telling your parishioners to go to hell.
Up in Richmond County when the Anglican rector announced that he was
going to answer the baptists in a sermon, his service was so well attended
that the balcony, where the slaves worshipped, collapsed. In short, the
evidence of slave participation in VA's colonial Anglican is there if ya
look for it.....
Jon Kukla
________________
www.JonKukla.com <http://www.jonkukla.com/>
On Wed, Feb 5, 2014 at 11:28 AM, Tarter, Brent (LVA) <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Years ago, Dr. Thomas E. Buckley, SJ, author of the recent excellent
> Establishing Religious Freedom: Jefferson's Statute in Virginia
> (Charlottesville, 2013), called my attention to a long 10 October 1759
> letter in the Patrick Henry Papers at the Library of Congress from James
> Maury, rector of Fredericksville Parish, evidently sent to Commissary
> Thomas Dawson. Maury described at length the objections that some members
> of his parish vestry made after he attempted to baptize some enslaved
> children during the regular church service. That indicates, as Craig
> mentioned, that children of slaves were sometimes baptized. The vestrymen
> did not object to their being baptized, only to their being baptized
during
> the regular church service along with children of decent white people.
>
> Brent Tarter
> The Library of Virginia
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Please visit the Library of Virginia's Web site at
> http://www.lva.virginia.gov
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2014 9:47 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [VA-HIST] Baptism of bastard children in the Colonial Church
>
> Hello all,
>
> I seem to have been suffering under the illusion ever since reading *Tess
> of the Turbervilles* in sophomore English class that the Anglican church
> did not allow for the baptism of bastard children.* But in going through
> the Christ Church, Middlesex County parish register for the late 1600s and
> early 1700s, I see that there are hundreds of bastard child baptisms.
These
> usually only name the mother. Also of interest are a considerable number
of
> slave children being baptized, which I also found unusual. So, gentle
> readers, where did I go astray regarding canon law in colonial Virginia?
>
> Craig Kilby
>
> *Those of you who were forced to read this drivel may recall that Tess
> found herself in a family way without benefit of matrimony, and then the
> baby died. She then has a nightmare that the devil was tossing the infant
> boy around in the flames of hell on his pitchfork. Our teacher, dear Mrs.
> Timmons, asked the class what this meant. One wag in class quickly
> answered her with, "Burn, Baby, Burn!" She was not amused, but the rest of
> the class went into an uproar!
>
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