18th century: Marriage Licenses

[FAB Fiona]

Hi all

Does anybody have access to a transcription of the marriage license records?  I think they're usually on a diocese level, so would be for Cheshire & Lancashire.

I'm particularly after the details of a license for a marriage in 1750 Chester between Thomas Bateman and Eleanora Cross (various spellings of her first name).

Many thanks

Fiona

[Galium]

If there's no one on here who can give you the details you are after, you will probably be able to get a copy of the marriage allegation and/or bond from the records office.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0908/

If you contact them explaining what you want they will be able to tell you the cost.   I haven't dealt with Cheshire archives personally, but other records offices usually charge £5 or less for copies of bonds and allegations. 

[Colin D Gronow]

Just obtained a Bond & License from Chester Record office, very quick turnaround, and only £3.98 posted out to me next day, pay on-line. excellent service.

[FAB Fiona]

Thank you very much both!  I ordered the information on line as suggested, and I received the bond yesterday.

And very useful it was too.  Turns out Eleanor Cross was a widow.  Now I just have to find her first marriage - as she was born in about 1717, that would be 1735-1749.  No luck yet on the LDS pilot site or CPRd finding an Eleanor marrying a Cross anywhere in Cheshire, never mind just Chester!

Now, the parties to the bond were Thomas Bateman, my ancestor and her would-be husband, and a Charles Whitehead.  Does anyone know why Charles Whitehead would be a party?  Her father or her brother?  Or somehow connected to her earlier husband?  (I say earlier because it occurs to me she could have been married more than once before she married TB.)

Can't find any Cross children born in that period with a mother named Eleanor either.

Fiona

[Galium]

Baptism records in the 18C (most unhelpfully) don't always show the mother's name, so not finding any CROSS children whose mother is Elleanor doesn't mean that there weren't any.

Have you looked for wills of these people?  The Cheshire Wills Database:


http://www.rootschat.com/links/0973/


 has a will of Thomas Bateman, Sherriff's Officer of Chester proved in 1767, and an Ellen Bateman, widow of Chester, dated 1800.  Do you think that these could be your couple?   If they are you might find clues as to who her family are in them.

There is also a will of a William Cross, of Chester, proved in 1749 - who might have been Elleanor's previous husband -  but I can't see any other indication that he was.