Married in COI church then RC chapel, is this the same couple?

[aaid]

Hi

I've just come across something I think is odd but wondered anyone could shed any light on this.

I have Madden ancestors from Lower Mullan, Ballinderry in Tyrone.   Madden seems a relatively uncommon name in Tyrone - at least compared to other parts of Ireland - and as there are only four families listed in Griffiths for Lower Mullan, I'm making an assumption they are all related.   I've been going through the BMD records - via rootsireland - to see if I can piece together how this wider family fits together.

I've come across a couple who married in 1855 Charles Madden and Jane Madden, presumably they are cousins, nothing particularly unusual in that.

A civil marriage record that shows that they were married on 12 April 1855 at Magherafelt COI parish church.   This civil record has more detail which shows that Jane is one of "my" Maddens.

However, there is also church record that shows that in Ballinderry a Charles and Jane Madden were married on 15 June 1855.   
There is less data on the church record - no address is given and the father's given names are not recorded.   The witnesses to the two weddings are different.   The name of the church is not given but it is recorded as assisted by J McGeough and a search on him suggests its in the RC chapel in Ballinderry.

I find two different couples of the same name getting married with three months of each other in the same place - especially given they share a surname - to be too much of a coincidence.

However why would they have two marriages under two different traditions?

[CaroleW]

Were they from different religions?

If one was RC - they would not have been married in the eyes of the church with a COI ceremony so perhaps compromised with 2 ceremonies.

Did one of them change their religion in favour of the other and re-marry in the other church?

 

[aaid]

I think that's entirely possible.  One of the questions I've been trying to answer is "what religion were the Maddens?".   Jane Madden here is the 1st cousin of my Gx3 grandfather, James Madden, he was married in the same COI church in Magherafelt two years earlier.  His wife was a Hannah Taylor who was from across the border in Co. Londonderry.  The Taylors were all COI as far as I can establish.   James had three brothers I've identified, all three were married in RC churches, two in Glasgow and one in Ballinderry.   All four brothers moved to Glasgow and their children's marriages were a combination of COS and RC.

I can understand the intermarriage, it's the two ceremonies that intrigue me.  That would be a relatively rare occurrence these days let alone 19th century Ulster.