Adam Winter marriage SOLVED with great thanks

[fizzix]

Adam & Alison Winter had three children baptised in Berwick Upon Tweed between 1787-1794 at the Golden Square Presbyterian.

However I'm unable to find a marriage, I've tried Scotland as well.

Adam was a shoemaker and had a couple of apprentices and what may be his birth in Berwick, so I would expect their marriage to be there as well.
Any ideas?

Thanks
Jacqui

[SelDen]

Hello Jacqui

I would expect your couple simply walked over to Scotland to marry either with their Presbyterian minister doing the ceremony or by some less formal ceremony. Border or irregular marriages were very common in northern Northumberland amongst working people. There May be no surviving record especially at that date.

All marriages in England between 1754 and the start of civil registration in 1837 had to be in the Church of England for several reasons but including problems with record keeping. There were exceptions for Quakers and Jews who kept their own excellent records. Scotland had different rules and many ordinary Northumbrians, even some who were C of E, simply walked over the Border for a cheap and discreet marriage which was legally binding though irregular.

See below for some info or google for Border or irregular marriages. The two booklets published by the NDFH also have good introductions giving the background- your marriage falls outside the periods covered by the booklets.

https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/research/economicsocialhistory/historymedicine/scottishwayofbirthanddeath/marriage/


P.s. I have assumed you have checked Scotlandspeople, familysearch.org and FreeReg and FindMyPast for a marriage for your couple?

I see an Adam Winter was bap in 1751 in Tweedmouth and a 48 year old Adam Winter buried in Tweedmouth in 1799. FreeReg says he was a shoemaker. (Thanks ticketyboo as I see you were the transcriber). If this is your Adam, have you checked Tweedmouth for any additional baptisms which may give you his wife’s name if you are very very lucky?

[2zpool]

I did not see a marriage recorded at Golden Square from 1782-1800 for anyone with the surname Winter.  This is where the minister did the marriage in Scotland and recorded in the book there at the church, I looked at Berwick Shaw's Lane marriages and not there, nor the marriage affidavits in the Berwick C of E records.

Janis

[SelDen]

FreeReg also has the 1801 burial of a baby Ann Winter, daughter of Adam Winter a shoemaker and mother late Haig. So you have a surname for the mother.

Mother is named as Alice - this is just the English version of Alison.

Added: burial for Eleanor in 1798 has Haig as mother’s previous name also.

There are several entries that may be of 8nterest- see www.freereg.org.uk

It would be quite common for a non conformist family to travel to get their children baptised in the denomination of their choice but to have their burials in the local C of E churchyard as there were usually few alternatives before the municipal cemeteries started some years later than your timeframe.

[fizzix]

Thanks very much to all of you.
I had looked for other births, but not on FreeReg, so that’s a great find.
I’ll have a look at the information on irregular marriages, but it does sound likely, especially as they were nonconformists.

Thanks again rootschatters always amaze me.
Jacqui

[fizzix]

I’ve just read the article that was suggested by Selden, very interesting, although frustrating for ancestor hunters.