I've posted my search for my ancestor Mary Bendall previously, so I'm trying a new angle on this family. According to census returns Mary was born around 1823 in Bristol. However, her marriage certificate states that she was 28 in 1842, giving her a birth year of 1814. I know that the age given on the census can be wildly inaccurate. I have read recently that details on marriage certs are occasionally mistranscribed. Has anyone ever come across this? If anyone has access to Bristol parish registers, it would be really helpful if I could cross reference this marriage. The details are: 1842, 8th May, St James Church Bristol. John Thomas Hooker 27, bachelor, Mason, and Mary Bendall 28, spinster.
Also John Thomas Hooker and Mary Bendall had several children while living in Bristol. I cannot find details of any of these births. Surely they must have been registered, although not necessarily baptised?
In 1851 the family was living at 4 Anchor Lane, Bristol, in the parish of St Augustine the Less. The children were: John Thomas Hooker, born abt 1848, Edward George Hooker, born abt 1850, Emily Hooker, born about 1846 and Mary Hooker born about 1843.
If anyone could check out the parish register for me or suggest why I can't find birth registrations I will be grateful.