Parish records query

[dinkey]

I need to pick some brains!

I have a baptism record for a Joseph Travis born 1812 to Benjamin & Mary Travis at St Thomas Church Milnrow nr Rochdale Lancashire. Without Mary's maiden name how do I find a marriage for this couple. I have checked the IGI but there is no record of a Benjamin Travis to a Mary anywhere in Lancashire. It occurrs to me that they could have married anywhere in the country and then settled in Lancashire but without Mary's surname how do I proceed.

If anyone can point me as to where I can look next I will be very grateful.

Dinkey

[Chris in 1066Land]

Hi Dinkey

We are talking about a baptism of Joseph in 1812 and a marriage before that.  As you are probably aware, if Joseph was their first child, then daughter very often went home to mum to have that first baby.

In 1812, there was no public transport, (Trains came in 1840's) so everything had to be within walking distance - so you need to look within walking distance of Milnrow, Nr Rochdale for their parents, marriage and baptisms, etc.

The IGI at best only covered 45% of the country (many churches would not release their Parish Registers for the Mormons to transcribe) and is to be used as a finding aid only - the parish registers must be checked to verify the data contained within the IGI.

A lot of the information in the IGI came from Bishops Transcripts - i.e the copies of the registers that were done at Easter each year by the church clerk / warden (unpaid job) and sent on to the Bishop; so already we have a copy of the original - mistakes in copying did / do happen. They started on one line, and finished off on the next line because their finger slipped, or else there was nothing in the register because no one had filled it in, so the transcript for the Bishop was completed from memory.

So, I do not believe they are anywhere in the country, my bet is that they are within a 5 / 10 mile radius of Rochdale.

Chris in 1066Land

[dinkey]

Hi Chris

Thank you for your quick response to my query. It looks like I will have to do a bit more more delving, I am hoping that Rochdale library may be able to find the marriage of Benjamin & Mary from the surrounding parish records although without the mother's maiden name this could prove difficult because you can bet there will be more than one Benjamin Travis married a Mary, I hope that I am not looking for a needle in a haystack.

Also, I do not know whether Joseph was their first child. he could have been one of many children in which case I could be looking for a marriage about twenty years before Joseph was born.

I do wonder whether other people have this problem where parish records give so little detail, how can you know for sure that you have put your ancestors in the right family?

I would be interested to know how others have managed to solve this dilemma.

Thanks again

dinkey