Marriage Licence Cornwall - Morcumb & Warne 1806

[hatofthecat]

I'm trying to find where there is a resource for marriage licences for Cornwall ?  I've searched around but with no luck.

From page 97 of Phillimore "Cornwall Parish Register vol. XI" in St Wenn I have:

Thomas Morcumb, of St Merran, & Jane Warne, lic.     29 Jan 1806

Obviously "St Merran" is "St Merryn" and I know Jane was from St Columb Minor so neither were of St Wenn.

I'm hoping the marriage licence record will give Thomas' age.

thanks for any help, Pete

[JaneyCanuck]

In case you don't have it, this is what the OPC site shows for the marriage:
http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=marriages&id=976751

Four Thomas Morcumb deaths are shown at the site, all in St Merryn.

Two are two young at the time of death. Possibles are:
1861 aged 72 (c1789), residence Trevear
1840 aged 69 (c1771), residence Trevose

In 1851, Thomas Morcumb with wife Ann, resident at Trevear, with daughter Mary aged 18, is shown as aged 60 (c1791) so he would appear to be the one who died in 1861.

Your Jane (Warne) Morcumb is a farmer, apparently widowed, aged 55+ (c1786), resident at Trevose in St Merryn in 1841.

So it would seem likely that the Thomas Morcumb who died in 1840 aged 69 (born c1771) is your man.

[JaneyCanuck]

When searching at the OPC site, it is best to use the first few letters of a name as the search term. (The site does not allow for wild cards, but you can select "include similar surnames"; however, if the variation is likely to occur near the end of the name, as most do, using MORC for Morcumb, for example, works best.)

A Thomas Morcombe was baptised in St Columb Minor in 1770, parents Richard and Dorothy:

http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=baptisms&id=2271615
http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=baptisms&id=2264513
(BTs)

However ... they also baptised a Thomas in 1781, suggesting that the first one had died ... yes:
http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=burials&id=1923474

Perhaps this is the origin of your query.

I wonder whether the age of the Thomas who died in 1840 might have been overstated?

Or understated; a Thomas Morcombe, son of John and Elisabeth, was baptised in St Columb Minor in 1766.

Rather surprisingly, three Thomas Morcombe-s were baptised in Gwennap in 1773.

[hatofthecat]

"I wonder whether the age of the Thomas who died in 1840 might have been overstated?"

...spot on JaneyCanuck !  That's where I've got to too.....I've been through the OPC data with fine comb and not found a Thomas Morcumb born in 1771 to fit death aged 69 in 1840.  I'm thinking its a repeated error of arithmetic and he's the St Columb Minor one born 1781 particularly as his wife is from there too. The burial record states 69 as does his death certificate but the death is not registered by family member so they could be mistaken and could easily have been same person who sorted the burial.  I am hoping the marriage licence would include the actual ages of the couple at time of the wedding.

Confusing things a little too is that there is a Thomas Morcumb at St Merryn (specifically Towan) paying land tax in 1798/9 but who I think is likely the father of the Thomas Morcumb who dies in 1861 born at St Merryn 1791 (on census but no baptism record).  My Thomas Morcumb would have been a little young to be the tax payer in 1798 if born in 1781 (though perhaps not if 1771...).

Pete

[JaneyCanuck]

One might almost wonder whether someone calculating his age at death had referred to the wrong baptism to the same parents, when the burial was recorded -- the one for the earlier Thomas who died in childhood ... ?

Do you have any idea who the informant on the certificate was in relation to Thomas? The info might just have been taken from the burial record (assuming the death was registered after the burial).

[hatofthecat]

Do you have any idea who the informant on the certificate was in relation to Thomas

Sequence is died 31st May, death registered 3rd June & buried 4th June

The informant is "John Northcat <illegible> during ilness Trevose St Merryn"

This is most likely John Northcott who in 1840 married Jane Tummon at St Merryn.  In the 1841 census the Tummon and Morcumb families both live at Trevose farm (I have info from another descendent of the Thomas Morcumb that the two families split the farm house down the middle and weren't always on speaking terms over the years...).  This John Northcott may well also be the one buried in St Merryn in 1879 aged 68 resided in Towan.

Pete

[JaneyCanuck]

He must have found the body, and everybody being illiterate, nobody may have known what was getting written down.

I do wonder about the two baptisms being confused if someone did look up a baptism to get an age.

[hatofthecat]

Indeed, it is "the mark of" John Northcott on the death certificate.  If a man says he was born in 1781 and then dies in 1840 and an officious registrar asks a young family friend who can't read/write the man's age he's as likely not as to to get his sums wrong.... still would be nice to see the marriage licence, which I've still no knowledge where to find 

Pete

[osprey]

Cornwall was in the diocese of Exeter at the time, so that's where the licence will be if it survives.

http://www.devon.gov.uk/index/councildemocracy/record_office/dro-photocopying/making_enquiries.html

I had a licence from Exeter a few years ago but I don't think the ages of the couple are noted, just their parishes and the name of another male who may be related.

By the way, I doubt someone noting a burial in a register would look for someone's baptism to check their age. He would note the age he was told or he believed the person to be.