Is this likely - Richard Head marriage in Byfleet 1802

[cogvos]

Dear all,

I am tracing a branch of the the Head family who resided in Chobham in the early 1800's. The info I have so far is that Stephen Head, my umpteen great grandfather, was baptised in Chobham on 11 June 1815, the son of Richard and Elisabeth. He had 1 brother (James, bap 30 June 1811) and 2 sisters (Sarah, bap 20 Sep 1806, and Charlotte, bap 22 may 1808).

I cannot find a marriage of Richard and Elisabeth in Chobham, but did locate one for Richard Head and Elizabeth Spong in Byfleet on 22 August 1802.

Thing is they disappear from 1802 to 1806 when they crop up in Chobham. I have checked all the surrounding parishes and cannot find them.

So is it possible that they didn't have any children till 1806, or have I missed something?

Any ideas?

[..claire..]

Hi

IGI has these baptism

William Head bp. 12 Dec. 1802 St. Lawrence Chobham Surrey. Parents: Richard Head and Elizabeth

claire

[cogvos]

HI Claire,

Many thanks for this, wonder why I missed it in the parish record... Could it be that the marriage is much earlier? I've had this before where there are 2 families with the same named parents, and Head isn't an uncommon name.

[Jeuel]

I have gt x 2 grandparents who didn't have any children for the first 6 years of their marriage, that I can discover.  I've conjectured that maybe there was some physical problem which sorted itself out; that my gt x 2 grandfather, who refuses to appear on any censuses, might have been in prison, or that as he was a fisherman he was away at sea a lot, or that perhaps his wife had a number of miscarriages or stillbirths.  As it is, they had 4 sons (not a large family for the time) and only two of them reached adulthood.