Register of misfortunes

by mercuriuspoliticus

I was trawling laboriously through a microfilm of the parish registers for All Saints, Derby last night looking for a particular name, when my eye suddenly saw this:

1612 [ie 1613]

January

Bap. William and John, sons of Christopher Culverwell. 3. [ie 3rd January]

Bur. John son of Christopher Culverwell. 7.

Bur. William son of Christopher Culverwell. 19.

So far as I can tell, I am the first person to mention the twins in writing for nearly four hundred years. Were it not for the parish register there would be no trace of their lives at all.