RootsChat.Com
Some Special Interests => Travelling People => Topic started by: Jane Masri on Friday 08 April 11 08:20 BST (UK)
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If a traditional marriage between two Romanies took place would they have also married in a church or registry office?
This would have been in the 1890's. I'm helping someone over on the Sussex board & curiosity got the better of me as we can't seem to find her first marriage although we've got her second marriage,
Jane
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Hi Jane
I know it's a bit later than what you were looking for, but, my nan who was a Loveridge, married an Ayres from Hampshire, in St George of England church in Toddington Bedfordshire in 1911.
china
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hi, jane, there really is no such thing as a traditional romany wedding, in this country. other than a church or civil wedding, but its not unknown for romany folk to to live together, and more so in the past as it was very hard to get a divorce. so if they split up, and found another partner,many had no choice but to live together, also family loyelty etc could make marrying in to another family hard, or if you were young and had to have permision from your parents. olso there are times the couple would run off get wed, it still happens today. i am 56 and my mother and g.mother both born in living wagons and romany, never mentioned any marriage other than the norm. but there was things that were done in fun, but nothing more that. i have relations that were wed but i cannot find the reg certs, as most were not able to write, they relied on others to fill in forms etc and errors were made in spellings of names dates etc, my own birth cert was used to as writing paper?so god knows what they did with them back then! anyway hope you find what you are after.sorry i cannot do more. rob g
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Thanks China,
We've since found her first marriage but it's looking as if she wasn't registered at birth. Maybe a baptism will pop up.
Hi Rob, thanks for that. I must say I've had an interesting time learning about Romany ways ;) Fascinating!
Jane
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Hi Jane
I'd certainly look for a baptism. The majority of Gypsy babies were baptised even if their births weren't registered. This often took place in a church near where the child was born. So if you have a birthplace from a census return, try there first.
However, keep in mind that the birthplace given may be the name of the nearest big town – a geographical marker – rather than the village where the child actually arrived. Also, horse-drawn caravans could travel about 10 miles in a day. So if there was a week or more's delay between the birth and the baptism, you could have to look at baptismal registers within quite a sizeable radius. Parents might also delay the baptism until a family get-together, such as meeting for hop-picking in the Autumn.
Best of luck!
Sharon
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Thanks for your input, Sharon,
The birthplace given on all the censuses was Mitcham & as the family was on Mitcham Common amongst other travellers in 1881 (birth was about 1880) I would say that Mitcham parish church would be a good place to start. Hopefully the Rootschatter we were helping will explore that avenue!
Jane
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Hi, my maternal family are Ayres from Hampshire. My grandfather was Samuel Ayres. Is this your family line as well?