Staffordshire marriage question

[Mhairi28]

My family have a long connection with the area around Stone, Staffordshire.
I have been looking for a marriage between Matthew Porter and Helen/Ellin/Helenae. The earliest baptismal record for this couple appears to be for a daughter Dorothea on 3rd April 1715 at Sandon.
All their children were baptised there.

Other family trees have a marriage for a Matthew Porter and Helen Pearson on 17th November 1715 at Beeford York, but it seems unlikely that they would have been married such a long way away.

I cannot see the baptismal record for Dorothea to see if she was described as a natural daughter i.e. illegitimate and I have not found an alternative marriage record.
I would appreciate any comments on this.

[QueenoftheWest]

Hi Mhairi,

I agree with you on that Beeford marriage not being correct; it seems like a good example of people simply "name collecting" to fill in a blank space in their tree instead of conducting their own proper research and/or accepting that not all baptisms/marriages/burials can be found, and there will inevitably be a gap somewhere on the tree.

There are also 2 children born to a Matthew Porter in 1717 and 1723 in Beeford, who are the likely children of the couple married there in 1715.

I have looked at the original parish register on FindMyPast, and Dorothy was described as being the daughter of Matthew Porter and Ellin, his wife, so she was legitimate.

Queenie 

[Mhairi28]

Thank you Queenie, my thoughts also as I have come across this problem several times.
It is often the case with FTs created outside the UK when people don't really understand the geography and just try to find a  name match.
The baptismal records for this area seem complete so I had hoped to find a marriage record, but none so far.

[ChrissieL]

I don't know if it would help but Midland Ancestors Shop have a copy of Sandon All Saints Parish Registers 1635-1900.  The book format is £4 and there is a downloadable pdf file for £7

Chris

[Mhairi28]

Thank you Chris for the information. I will look into it.

I have only recently found the connection with Sandon Parish as the family have been mainly centred at St Michael's Church, Stone. However Sandon and Stone do appear to be quite close so I am hoping I am not on the wrong track.