Not sure what to do next.

[Gembar]

I have just downloaded the marriage entry from Hals of my 4 times great grandparents Stephen Marlborough and Martha England marriage at St Marys Parish Church in Watford 15/10/1806.
I was hoping the witnesses would have been family members to help me find more about the family but the names are not the same. Can anyone advise me on where to go or what to do next to find out where they were born, how can I confirm who their parents were? I hope that I have not finally hit that brick wall!!
Thankyou

[clairec666]

The names of your ancestors are far from common, so I doubt you've hit a solid brick wall (yet). Without knowing what research you've done so far, it's hard to know what to suggest next. Even if you think you've exhausted all the parish records, there are plenty of "alternative" sources out there which may help.

Good luck

[Gembar]

Thanks Claire for your reply. I have just found a christening of a Stephen Marlborough 13/08/1786 in Shenley, Hertfordshire with parents Tho and Ann Marlborough. the date would make him about 20 at the time of the marriage. But is there anyway to confirm that it is the same Stephen?

[philipsearching]

I was hoping the witnesses would have been family members to help me find more about the family but the names are not the same.

You could try searching the witnesses names for marriages to Marlborough or England spouses.  If you don't find any this would not prove anything, but if you get lucky you might link siblings or cousins.

Good hunting.
Philip

[jacquelineve]

  Childrens names can sometimes be of help..as they were usually named after g.parents -siblings

Jackie

[clairec666]

I'm not too familiar with Hertfordshire so I don't know if Shenley is close to Watford. The baptism you've found could be the right one.... he's about the right age, and Stephen's not a particularly rare name but it's much rarer than a John or William. It could be a recurring name in their family, so if it's not your Stephen it could be a cousin of his.

Have you found where Stephen and Martha were buried? If you have an age for Stephen, you can narrow down when he might have been baptised.

[Annette7]

There are various trees on Ancestry who all claim Stephen bp.Shenley as your man.

Annette

[smudwhisk]

Shenley is only a couple of parishes away from Watford so it is possible.  Mind you when I went through the Shenley registers for some of my own research a number of the residents were from St Albans various parishes.

However, Shenley is missing from FindMyPast and from memory I don't think its been indexed for any period by Familysearch (although I think they do have a copy on microfilm in their catalogue) so you really need to see the parish registers before deciding if that Stephen is yours as he could have remained and died in the parish, something that may not have been done by the tree owners on ancestry.

[Gembar]

Thank you everyone. I think a trip to Hertfordshire record office maybe in order.