Marriage by licence help

[familydar]

Don't take the ages as gospel, whether or not "and upwards".  Couples with big age gaps often gave ages closer together.  For this reason don't rule out getting younger over time.

Jane :-)

[mezentia]

I've had a chance to download and examine the licence for Richard Stonyer and Mary Oakden. I've also got a copy of a licence, also for a marriage at Snelston, for John Stonyer and Sarah Fletcher, made the previous year. I believe that Richard and John were brothers.

Richard and Mary's bond was for £500 and John and Sarah's only £100. Why the difference? Wasn't £500 rather steep? Having asked that question, a second licence for John Stonyer for his marriage to Sarah Harrison in 1795 also states that the bond is £500, so maybe £100 was cheap 

A signatory of both the 1772 and 1773 licences is one Ann Langley. Does this imply that Ann Langley is possibly a relative of both Richard and John?

On John Stonyer's 1772 licence, the counter signatory is William Fletcher, who I believe to be Sarah's father. Could this imply that Mary Oakden's maiden name be Wagstaff?

I have several children of a Richard Stonyer and Mary baptised in Seigford between 1789 and 1804. I know from previous research that the Stonyer's were journeyman millers, and thus it is not surprising to find them scattered all over the place. However, the ages for Richard and Mary in their licence indicate that the last child would have been born when Mary was into her 50s. I strongly suspect, therefore, that the Richard and Mary whose children were baptized in Seighford are a different couple altogether. That raises the issue of who the Seigford couple are related to. I can find no marriage for a Richard Stonyer (or any known variations of the surname) and a Mary in or around the date of the first child baptised at Seighford.

A further little snippet of evidence to suggest that the Seighford Richard and Mary are a different couple is the death of a Richard Stonyer, that the PR tells us was "killd at the Alder Mill" in 1799. My 3 x gt grandfather was born at Alder Mill, in Mancetter, near Tamworth. Richard's body was said to have been discovered by his son John "robbed and murdered", although I have been totally unable to find the source of that bit of information (the person from whence it came, a distant cousin, has sadly passed away having steadfastly refused to reveal any of his sources, except that "there was a lot in latin", and although I was briefly in touch with his daughter, we never got around to exchanging contact details other than via her father's facebook pages.)

If my late cousin's information is correct, and if the Richard Stonyer that married Mary Oakden was indeed the Richard that died at Alder Mill, then there would seem to be at least one child of the marriage, but again, I have been unable to find any possible birth record. I've tried checking the Llanfylin PRs in case Richard returned there with Mary after the marriage, but these seem to be missing entries bewteen Davies and Thomas 

Thanks everyone for your observations so far. It just seems that as one door opens, it only reveals another brick wall