Surety?

[Hurley]

Hi,
Is the person on a marriage record as surety the same as a witness? I'm having difficulty finding the birth of Isabella Hartley. The IGI has her married to Samuel Dickinson in 1788 as Isabella Hartley. The parish record of her marriage to Samuel Dickinson says..... Samuel Dickinson of Chester le Street obtained a licence to marry Isabella Heatley of Brancepeth on 22nd Jan 1788 at Brancepeth. Surety was John Emmerson of Humble Sledge. They were married the same day as licence was granted. Samuel was born Chester le street and after the marriage the couple lived the rest of their lives at Chester le street. I can't trace the birth for Isabella. Why would she have John Emmerson as surety? Could she have worked for him? I can't find a birth for her in Brancepeth.

Help please,

Hurley

[Radcliff]

Some one a bit cleverer than me could answer that It could be like a marriage bond,she could have been an apprentice any thing ,

there are three  births that you could look at ,

1, Isabel Hartley ,23rd June 1765 ,Gateshead daughter of William Hartley,

2, Isabel Hartley ,20th July 1872, Berwick upon Tweed , daughter of Benjamin and Jane Hartley,

 omit number 2 ,she died 1879 ,

3, Isabel Artley ,27th December 1872 ,Chester Lee Street,daughter of Walter and Eleanor Artley

[behindthefrogs]

At that time when applying for a marriage licence someone had to stand surety to guarantee that the couple were both free to marry each other according to the requirements of Cannon Law.  This was because the licence replaced the normal calling of banns.

The surety could be for a large amount of money, hundreds sometimes thousands of pounds,  However they did not have to find the money unless the marriage was subsequently found to be invalid.  There were usually two bondsmen one of whom was usually the bridegroom.  This requirement continued until 1823.

David

[Hurley]

Thanks guys,

I have narrowed it down to one Isabel Hartley born 1765 Gateshead. As you said Radcliff,  Isabella from Berwick died young and so did Isabella 1872 Chester le street, she died 1875 so that leaves Isabel Hartley 1865 Gateshead.

The reason I thought Isabel may have worked for John Emmerson was because the lisence stated she was of Brancepeth which to me say's she could have been living there at the time of the marriage rather than being actually born there.

Hurley.

[Radcliff]

Hello ,I looked to see if I could find a link with John Emmerson to Isabella ,To many Johns born in Chester Le Street and Brancepeth to find a family connection,to the Hartly or Artley family,have you looked at the marriage bonds on familysearch org ,it is image 61/62 of 804, states Isabels age as 21 and Samuels as 25,
Good luck with your research

[c-side]

If you haven't already seen it the marriage licence is here:

http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#c=fs%3A1675690&s=waypointsOnly&w=0&p=waypoint

Images 61 and 62

Christine

[Hurley]

Hi again,

Thank's for that link to see the actual document. So do you experienced recearchers  think Isabella Hartley of this parish of Brancepeth means she was actually born there or that she just lived there at the time they applied for the licence?

Thank's again for help with this.

[behindthefrogs]

It means no more than she was living there at the time of the marriage and says nothing about her place of birth.

However back in the 18th century the poorer non-property owning part of the population had an established parish of settlement.  They would also be extremely unlikely to be married by licence in another parish.

David

[Radcliff]

Well from my own research ,few of my people returned to their own parish to marry,if they had only a small income traveling home may have been unlikely,so have you looked to see if she had brothers and sisters her parents may have been living in the parish as well as Isabel