[shelby research]Mary Selby/Shelby's baptism

[Judith A Trolinger]

Hi Martha,
  Glad to hear they are keeping up the repairs on the church and grounds. 
You ran into the same thing I did when I went next door to the archives, 
but I enjoyed just being there and being able to see the church. I also 
picked up general info about the church history, in the little gift shop.
Didn't have a digital camera then :-( so had to hand copy. I knew it was 
our "Mary" as the info matched the birthdate on her tombstone.When I found 
this, I thought for sure I'd be able to close in on where they must have 
been living, in order for Catherine to give birth and then later have her 
daughter baptised-No such luck! Turned up zero. This is the earliest date 
we have of them being in the US, along with the land record when Evan 
bought the land in Lancaster Co, PA in July of 1735.

Judy

At 03:08 PM 10/11/03 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi Judy,
>
>I went to Christ Church in Philadelphia, luckily arriving on the day the 
>Liberty Bell was being transported to it's new home.  The church and 
>burial grounds have just gone through renovation and are beautiful. The 
>burial ground alone cost over $400,000 to renovate.  While I was in the 
>church I was told that I could go next door to find the archives of the 
>church records.  I went next door and asked.  In seconds they had produced 
>the book recording Mary's baptism.  I asked if she could make a copy for 
>me, and she said no because it faded the writing in the books.  I was so 
>disappointed.
>I asked how could I possibly get a copy.  She smiled and said "use the 
>camera you are carrying".  So, ... I shot a couple of photos right out of 
>the book.
>
>I am visiting my daughter in Tampa now, but when I get home in a couple of 
>weeks and empty my memory stick into my computer, I will send a photo of 
>the record.  Mary was three weeks old when she was baptized.  Also, she 
>was baptised in the font that William Penn, Jr. (the founder of 
>Philadelphia) was baptised in.  The story is that the font was already 
>three hundred years old when it came to America.  The church was 
>originally built in 1695, give or take a year.  That means the font was 
>created about the time Columbus came to America.
>
>I also just opened an email from the Charlotte, NC library telling me they 
>did not have the books there and I had to go to Philadelphia to Christ 
>Church to find them.  Fortunately I was a step ahead!
>
>Martha
>