thanks Oudeis
I've just checked through the book - this baptism register was 23 pages and almost every baptism in the register (with the exception of the odd one scattered here and there) was this same scenario. The baptisms in this book cover dates between 30th December 1860 and 5th Jan 1862 (so really only 12 months plus a few extra days) and there must be about 600 entries in the register.
It just seems an incredile amount, although I agree with you, I wondered if they were children being shipped off abroad and had to be baptised before they went.
The family I was researching when I came across this was John and Sarah Melia who are listed as the 'parents' of Sarah Horan.
But this couple appear in the same way quite a few times, they are listed as 'parents' of:
Marianne Smith in August 1860 at the same church (St Josephs)
Sarah Horan (the one above) in 1861 at St Josephs
Bridget Smith in May 1863 at St Josephs
William Smith in Oct 1865 at St Josephs
Martin Malley in June 1857 at Holy Cross
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They weren't childless, they had their own family. And none of these children mentioned above lived with the family.
So it doesn't seem to be something that's a one off, but not sure what it does mean?!
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