How do I know which is the right marriage?

[Latchfordian]

My family history research has recently progressed from civil registration to parish records and I'm not finding it easy! For example, I'm confident that I've found the baptism record of my GG-Grandmother which is as follows :-

Baptism: 22 Aug 1819 St Elphin, Warrington, Lancashire, England
Martha Smith - Daur of Thomas Smith & Anne

Assuming (rightly or wrongly) that her parents' marriage was at the same church a few years prior, I came up with 3 possibilities :-

Marriage: 25 Feb 1813 St Elphin, Warrington, Lancashire, England
Thomas Smith - (X), of This Parish
Ann McCormack - (X), of This Parish

Marriage: 20 Nov 1814 St Elphin, Warrington, Lancashire, England
Thomas Smith - of This Parish
Ann Bridge - of This Parish

Marriage: 31 Oct 1815 St Elphin, Warrington, Lancashire, England
Thomas Smith - of This Parish
Ann Darbyshire - (X), of This Parish


How do I determine which of these is the marriage I'm looking for? I really would appreciate some guidance as to where I should go from here. 

Jim

[avm228]

Unfortunately there's unlikely to be an easy answer, especially with surname Smith

Do you know anything about where Martha fitted into the family, age-wise? If you can find siblings' baptisms you may be able to narrow down choices for the parents' marriage. However, if she was their 10th or 12th or 15th child you may have to take the search back a few years!

Is Martha with her parents in 1841, and if so what are their ages and who else is in the household? If you can find them then, do they survive until 1851 so as to give a precise birthplace and non-rounded age?

[BumbleB]

As the baptism is post 1813 when printed registers appeared, is there any reference to occupation for the father?   Similarly do the marriage registers indicate occupation?  Not conclusive, but a possibility    You may have to look at copies of the parish registers themselves to find this information, it may not be shown in indexes such as IGI.

[Latchfordian]

Unfortunately there's unlikely to be an easy answer, especially with surname Smith

Do you know anything about where Martha fitted into the family, age-wise? If you can find siblings' baptisms you may be able to narrow down choices for the parents' marriage. However, if she was their 10th or 12th or 15th child you may have to take the search back a few years!

Is Martha with her parents in 1841, and if so what are their ages and who else is in the household? If you can find them then, do they survive until 1851 so as to give a precise birthplace and non-rounded age?

Yes indeed, having a Smith in one's family tree is never easy but fortunately Martha is the only one so far. She got married in 1838 so she was not with her family for the 1841 census and so far I've not been able to find Thomas and Anne either and hence none of the siblings. Thanks for the tips anyway avm228, I shall persevere!

Jim

[Latchfordian]

As the baptism is post 1813 when printed registers appeared, is there any reference to occupation for the father?   Similarly do the marriage registers indicate occupation?  Not conclusive, but a possibility    You may have to look at copies of the parish registers themselves to find this information, it may not be shown in indexes such as IGI.

Yes the baptism gave the father's occupation as currier which matched that on Martha's marriage certificate. That's why I was so confident that I had the right baptism. Unfortunately occupations were not given on the marriage records, but they were from the IGI so, like you say, I really need to see the original copies. Thanks for your help BumbleB.

Jim

[BumbleB]

Hi Jim:  OK so occupation may not be given on the marriage parish register, but it needs verifying, and even witnesses might give clues.  Good luck!!

[Ermintrude46]

Who were the witnesses at Martha's marriage, could any of them have been a sibling (including a married sister)?  If so, have you been able to find a suitable baptism for them?  I don't have a feel for how big the parish of St Elphin will have been, it's not totally impossible (if not terribly likely) that this is the same Thomas marrying three times in quick sucession.  One of my ancestors did marry three times in five years, the first and the last wife being an Elizabeth and initially I had the wrong mother (both his first and second wife were buried very shortly after the birth of their first child, sadly).  If you can get access to the original parish records or a transcript I would try to build up a picture of all the Smith families in the parish and then, hopefully, you may have a better idea which one is yours.
Ermy (three Smith lines and one Jones so far) 

[johnxyz]

Another clue is to try to find the given names of all Martha's siblings, and her possible aunts and uncles. Names - especially unusual ones - tend to run in families. It is never definitive. But if for example only one of those Anns has a sister Martha, and none of the Thomas candidates have a sister Martha, it points in that direction.

Also I agree with Ermintrude46 that you need to consider multiple marriages. Look at the burial records (looking for for Ann Smith). Look at all children of Thomas and Ann Smith to try to establish whether there are multiple families with same name.  The first test is the frequency of christenings. In general you would expect children to average at least a year apart. 

[Galium]

Baptisms at St Elphin on the Lancs OPC site from 1813 to 1828 show:

children of Thomas and Anne Smith of Poulton
Mary 1816 (father Husbandman)
John 1818 (father Victualler)
Elizabeth 1819 (father Victualler)
Ann 1821 (Victualler)
Thomas 1824(Farmer)
William 1828 (Farmer)

I think these are probably all the same family as the address is always Poulton.

*******

Children of Thomas and Ann Smith of Foundry Lane
Richard 1813  (Weaver)
Thomas 1815 (Weaver)
Thomas 1817 (Weaver)
William 1819 (Weaver)
Anne 1821 (Weaver)
Henry 1824 (Weaver)

*******

Children of Thomas and Ann Smith of Fennel Street
Martha 1819 (Currier)
Mary 1821 (Currier)
Elizabeth Mercy 1822 (Currier)

I can't see any earlier or later children for this couple within the time frame 1813-1828.