From: G6JPG@255soft.uk   
      
   Looking at baptisms in Bebington (Wirral, Cheshire, England), 1679.   
      
   Most - all, I think - of the other entries on the page are of the form:   
      
    filius/filia   de   
    ____    
      
   (forenames Latinised), which I of course understand to mean   
      
    son/daughter of   of  ____ .   
      
   However, the one I think are my ancestors says (under Mensis Augusti   
   [month of August]):   
      
   Johannes filius Johannis Mason Alieni <>____________________________3º.   
      
   Which I take to mean John son of John Mason (the <> is a little diamond,   
   which I take to be a foible of the scribe - it's done without taking the   
   pen off the page to draw the line to the date figure [handy, as it makes   
   it a lot easier to see which date lines up with which line]).   
      
   I am pretty sure "Alieni" just means "of elsewhere" - but why? Most of   
   the others on the page are "de Bebington" or "de Beb: super" (Higher or   
   Upper, I presume), but there are some from other villages - Watsheath or   
   Wats Heath, Stourton, Poulton, Brombrough, Hony-Greave, Hinderton,   
   Tranmore, and Holt Hill. Sure, one might guess the clerk didn't know,   
   but hang on: if you're having a baby son baptised (especially one named   
   after you, so quite likely the first one), it's not like just having   
   your passport stamped - it takes a while; surely someone would have   
   asked? (Would they even _do_ a baptism for a stranger?)   
   --   
   J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf   
      
   Practically every British actor with a bus pass is in there ...   
   Barry Norman (on "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" [2011]), RT 2015/12/12-18   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)