The Felkin Family: The Decline of a Baptist Family

ABSTRACT The issue of the retention of religious belief within families has recently begun to attract researchers [Christian Smith and David Sikkink, “Social Predictors of Retention in and Switching from the Religious Faith of Family of Origin: Another Look Using Religious Tradition Self-Identification,” Review of Religious Research 45, no. 2 (2003): 188–206. Accessed October 23, 2020. doi:10.2307/3512582. This includes a helpful summary of recent research]. This paper examines the family history of a prominent East Midlands Baptist family of the early 1800s to identify how faith changed over generations. The Felkin family moved from poor stocking weavers to regionally important Baptist leaders and wealthy industrialists within two generations; thereafter they gained access to higher education and social circles, with a decline in Baptist identity to the extent that some embraced other religions.