Marriage John Ewens & Mary Still/Hill

[Mazm]

Could someone please help me out. In our tree we have a John Ewens and Mary Hill and from the Familysearch in 2004 got their marriage of 24 February 1772, Marden, or so we thought.  The same year went to the Wiltshire Records to check things out.  Couldn't find anything about Mary HILL her baptism, marriage, family but found Mary STILL and her family, with a marriage of 12 November 1771, Pewsey (not that far away).  Same bridegroom.  We couldn't understand things and spoke to an assistant there who thought it might have been due to Banns.

Now I made a terrible mistake and failed (I know I'll get my knuckles rapped for that) and did not make notes of our conversation, exact details etc. just the new date and the witnesses Robert Still/Benjamin Bryant.

Is there anyone out there who can help me solve the problem.  Are there two marriages or not? What I can say for certain is the John Ewens and Mary (Still/Hill) had a daughter Elizabeth 1774 from whom my husband is descended.

Please, any help gratefully received.

Maz

[colinsorigins]

Hi Maz

What you failed to notice was that the 1772 entry was submitted by a church member.   It was pure guesswork or wishful thinking;  this marriage does not appear in the Marden parish register.   The marriage of John Ewens of Marden at Charlton(near Pewsey) to Mary Still does exist.

Regards

Colin

[Mazm]

Many thanks Colin

Regret you are dealing very much with an amateur!  Not quite sure what you mean.  Do you mean the 1772 was submitted by a member of the Mormons church?  If so I accept that does happen. On recent viewing they are both there under separate reference numbers.

However, I think my comments were a little unclear.  To clarify, when we went to the Records Office we were looking at the microfiche copies and found two entries - one for 1771 and one for 1772.  One of them was a little strange but cannot remember which one - our memories are getting bad - the lesson here is write everything down.  As stated even the assistant was confused! 

Regards
Maz

[colinsorigins]

Hi Maz

Now I am confused.   I cannot imagine what the fiche with the 1772 entry can have been.   

I have looked in two transcripts for marriage registers for  Marden - these were from familysearch.org and Phillimore Parish Registers.   Neither included the 1772 marriage in Marden.   Phillimore did confirm the 1771 marriage in Charlton.

Entries from church members are sometimes correct, particularly when a precise date is given - other times they are guess to fill a gap in the family tree.   The 1771 entry in familysearch was also from a church member but on this occasion is confirmed by the parish register.

We can never be 100% certain for events several 100 years ago, but Mary Still looks a good bet.

Best wishes

Colin

[Mazm]

Once again thank you for trying to sort this out for me, and I do accept what you say about the Mormons.

I thought I would give you the reference details they show:

Mary Hill mg 24 February 1772, batch 9022535, sheet 40. source call 1553824.

Mary Still mg 12 November 1771, batch 7111916, sheet 20, source call 1235273.

Whatever that all means?

What is so annoying is that there were 3 of us that saw these microfiched original entries, so there is something odd about it all. Anyway I am sticking with Mary Still mg 12 November 1771 as my favourite.  Until that is we can get down to Wiltshire sometime in the future to check again.

Regards
Maz