Thoughts on a marital coincidence

[LizzieL]

There only seem to be baptisms for children of William and Lydia Johnson, none for W & L Brown.

As the couple were from different parishes, Banns would be read in both, maybe they were going to marry in Blackwell and changed their mind and married in Alfreton instead, but the marriage was recorded in Blackwell in error. As William was not from Blackwell the clerk may not have known him and misremembered the name.

FindMyPast has a scan of Phillimore index - no mention of licence, but Elizabeth Boot married by licence a few months earlier

[LizzieW]

Wrong names often written on parish registers. My gran's baptism is one.  In the 1877 parish record her name is shown as Seth.  That was her father's name and it clearly shows parents as Seth and Alice.  As I know 100% that my gran was female, and her name was Mary Hannah, the only explanaton is that the parish clerk just wrote down the wrong name.  I couldn't find her baptism for ages then decided to look for the siblings born before and after her, it turned out they were baptised at the same church, so I guessed my gran would have been too.  I already knew her date of birth so check baptisms around the time of my gran's birth, in the parish church where her siblings were baptised and there she was - called Seth!

[mijath]

Hi all, thank you for your comments and suggestions!

As someone else said, there are children of William and Lydia Johnson born in Alfreton, in the years after that marriage. However I cannot find any children of a William and Lydia Brown born in Blackwell or any nearby parish. Nor can I find the death of a William and Lydia Brown.

I don't believe there is a licence, I've only seen banns mentioned for the Alfreton marriage. (I assume there's no separate record of banns, given this was 1738, before the Marriage Act of 1753)

I can confirm the Lydia Boot buried in Blackwell in 1732 is a lady who married into the family in the 1680s.

I don't think I'll ever be able to resolve this issue beyond all doubt, but on balance I believe the Brown-Boot marriage is an error.