Parish register marriage entry but no GRO index entry

[mezentia]

I stumbled across this entry on the new IGI site recently (I've edited out any lines with no information):

Groom's Name:    William Edwards
Bride's Name:    Martha Stonyer
Marriage Date:    16 May 1867
Marriage Place:    Chelmarsh, Shropshire, England
Indexing Project (Batch) Number:    I03806-3
System Origin:    England-EASy
Source Film Number:    1657547

I've not come across I batch numbers before, but this batch also included an entry for the marriage of my 3 x gt grandfather Richard Stonyer that wasn't in any of the batches on the old IGI site.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any GRO index for this marriage. I'm particularly interested in Martha Stonyer as I know she emigrated to New Zealand with her brother, but subsequently vanished, unless she returned to England: there's a fairly convincing 1871 census entry for her in Nechells, where she's lodging with another family. The census has her under her maiden name, tho', and unmarried. I've been trying to track her down for ages. A marriage certificate would at least have identified which bit of the Stonyer family she came from and confirmed that she did return to this country. If anyone is visting the archives in Shrewsbury soon, could they please check the entry for me to see if there's any more information? Could the couple have legitimately been missed off the official indexes? If so, how do you order a certificate? Obviously, this is assuming the PR entry has been accurately transcribed.

[CaroleW]

The only Martha Stonyer in Chelmarsh in 1861 was born 1806 and was a widow. 

1851 shows she was married to Richard and had a daughter Martha b 1845 Belbroughton Worcester

Family were in Worcs in 1851 but Shropshire in 1861.  Martha jnr was a servant in Quatt

[andycand]

Hi

One possibility is that Familysearch has recorded a reading of the Banns but that they didn't actually marry. Check the Parish Register to see what they have indexed.

Andy

[CaroleW]

That's a good suggestion Andy - I checked the full GRO index and there is no marriage entry under Edwards or Stonyer in June qtr 1867.

The 1871 entry referred to above is the same person found in 1851 and 1861 - b Belborough Worcs

[andycand]

Hi

There was a similar topic a few days ago and someone was able to look up the relevent Parish Register.

Andy

[trish18]

Hi,

If this is the same Martha Stonyer who emigrated to New Zealand with her brother Joseph in 1863?

Regards

Trish

[mezentia]

Thanks for the replies. Martha was the daughter of Richard and Martha Stonyer. Richard worked a watermill near Chelmarsh, and his brothers worked mills at Wrickton and Deuxhill. Richard moved from Chelmarsh to, I think, Heath Mill in Wombourne before moving finally to Bell End Mill in Belbroughton. After Richard snr died in 1853,  four children emigrated; first William and his family, from whom all later Stonyers are descended (so if you're a Stonyer in NZ, you're my cousin ) then Richard jnr and his wife, followed by Joseph and Martha together. Richard jnr sadly drowned crossing the Opihi river, and left no children. Joseph and Martha disappeared in NZ, whilst the rest of the family in NZ are well represented in the newspapers of the time, and where I've a substantial amount of other documentation about their lives out there. The rest of the children, John, Sarah, Thomas, and Mary Ann remained in England, and I have them well documented. Martha I'm quite confident returmed to England, given the 1871 census entry, but then she disappers again - until this IGI entry crops up.

The IGI entry may well be a Banns. There's no ther record I can find, even in the Shropshire marriage index, which is why I'd apreciate anyone with time to spare on a visit to the archives in Shrewsbury doing a quick look-up for me to confirm what the entry actually says 

[Mr Gwynne Chadwick]

Hi,

Whilst at Shropshire Archives on Thursday, my wife investigated this query for you.

The Chelmarsh marriage register for post 1846 is not at the Archives.
They do have the Banns register up to 1912.

In the Banns register for the 2nd, 9th and 16th May 1867 are entries for;
William EDWARDS, Widower and Martha STONYER, Spinster, both of the Parish.

However, all three entries in the Banns Register are crossed out.

Hope it helps,
Gwynne

[johnxyz]

"I" batches started to appear about 3 years ago. As I understand it, they are a systematic effort using volunteers to index more records.  Many are appearing in Kent, where the LDS finally obtained permisson to index the Canterbury diocese records. I am finding them slightly less reliable than the old Controlled Extraction Programme (C, J, K, M, P) and for some Kent records they have the wrong parish. 

I have seen other cases where Banns have been indexed but are described as marriages.