Beginners help required tracing KELLY family

[Paul41]

Hello,dont know where to start here as i seem to have been coming up against various brick walls in my pursuit of my family tree on my fathers side.Unfortuneately i was very young when he died in 1972 and for whatever reason my mother is less than forthcoming with information which could help me
My fathers name was Vincent Kelly born 22/4/1926 in Lanchester and married  in 1950 in the Northern district-all i know from there on in is that there are 3 children from this marriage which finished at some point in 1964/65-my dad then married my mum and he died a relatively young age on 27/3/72 and was i believe the first Roman Catholic to be cremated at the newly opened Mountsett Crematorium in Dipton Stanley Co. Durham.I know his father and mother called John Kelly and Bridget Shannon were married in March 1914 in Lanchester but i have been unable to trace anything on my grandfathers side.I have had more luck on my grandmothers side of the family who ive traced back as far as 1851 on the census records available -she appears on the 1891 census as the daughter of Thomas Shannon aged 2 residing at 44 Bottlebankin Blackhill Consett-my great great grandfather appears on these records as a widow aged about 60 and i have traced him back to 1881 census living at 21 Bottlebank and thenfurther back to the 1851 census when he appeared as a lodger at 86 Love Street in the district of St Giles Durham.If anyone could shed any light on this large empty side of knowledge on my fathers side i would be eternally grateful-i have tried to look for records of these 3 half brothers or sisters that i have but to no avail at present with no mention of them in the book of rememberanceat Mountsett Crematorium-i would also like to trace the graves of the Shannon side of my family who i believe to have died in the Blackhill area-i believe there are 16 Shannons buried at Blackhill cemetary-but where and do they have headstones? which may give me more details-all i know is that my grandmother Bridget is buried at St Patricks church in Dipton -died 5/3/71 aged 82 (her family home was at 22 Ewehurst parade which is no longer there)and my dad has an inscription on her gravestone-anyway ive rambled on a little too much but if there is anyone out there who can point me in the right direction or who may even know something/or feels they could be anyway related to me  then please feel free to get in touch-any help whatsoever whether it be great or small would be greatly appreciated-Many thanks Paul

Moderator comment:  Amended to remove names of possible living people.

[Tati]

Welcome to RootsChat Paul 

Do you have the marriage certificate for John Kelly and Bridget Shannon?

I can see a John Kelly on the 1901 census for Lanchester (age 7, born Consett, son of James and Eleanor) but we'd really need to know his age and his father's name to tell if he's a likely candidate

[Gadget]

Hi Paul 

Welcome from me too!

As Tati says the marriage cert would tell you his age and father's name:

Mar q, 1914, Lanchester, vol 10a page 513.

Added -  If you've not got it, you can order online here:

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/



Gadget

[Paul41]

thanks for prompt replies Tati the John Kelly you mention would be too young i presume as he would only be 14 when getting married-from what i can gather i believe he was originally from the Lanchester area but this is where it breaks down for me as i do not have any of this info-when my mum married my dad in 1966 John -my grandfather was already dead-with my dad not being born till 1926 this is where i come unstuck in census records- Moderator Comment: Names of possible living people removed
-Gadget i have been told the marriage certificate route is the one i should take from my dads first marriage in 1950  but so far when looking thru records ive drawn a blank-as previously mentioned i have 3 half brothers/sisters thru this marriage who with a bit of luck should still be alive and maybe in their early 60s or late 50s-very frustrating for me but i suppose patience is the keyword in all of this

[Gadget]

Hi again Paul 

I don't think he would have been able to marry at the age of 14*:

In 1763, the minimum age of marriage was fixed at 16. Prior to this date, the church accepted the marriage of girls aged 12 or more and boys aged 14 or more. In addition, a dispensation on licence could be obtained from a bishop which allowed marriage at a younger age. From 1763 a person below the age of 21 required the consent of parents to be married in England.

http://www.parishregister.co.uk/history.htm

I think getting the 1914 marriage certificate would  give you the information that you need to go backwards. However, although it would be more expensive, if you are unclear, it would be worth getting both your father's marriage certs and his birth cert.

We have to be careful about mentioning people who may still be alive, so it isn't possible for us to help with your half siblings.

Regards


Gadget


* Added - unless he gave the wrong information about his age to the registrar/minister/priest

Ps - I mis-read your post - thought you said that yours married at 14

[Tati]

John Kelly and Bridget Shannon were married in March 1914

Wouldn't he have been ca. 21 if he was 7 in 1901? 

[Paul41]

correct Tati i misread it at 1907-sorry about that-again excuse my ignorance regarding existing siblings Gadget as im fairly new to all this-will try and work back from there and see where it takes me

[suzard]

Don't know if this may be of any assistance to you -it seems Winifred had a middle name

Moderator Comment:  Details of possible living person removed in accordance with rootschat policy.  Please use the pm system to exchange sensitive data.

Suz

[Paul41]

Thankyou Suzard-not sure whether the spelling was correct as original trace of the siblings had a spelling of Winfred and not Winifred -because of the unusual spelling (or at least thats what i thought!!) i had been looking for a male-could you please tell me where i would access this sort of info as this was given to me originally by a third party when setting out on my search