Marriage of Joseph MERRETT of Christian Malford

[d.v.j.redmond]

Dear all,

I'm looking for the marriage of Joseph Merrett (born in either Christian Malford or Dauntsey) and Elizabeth Harding (born in Christian Malford) between 1820 and 1838.

Any help with this would be much appreciated.

All the best,

Dave

[Annette7]

Looks like they could have popped over the border in Somerset:

Joseph Merritt married Elizabeth Harding 27/10/1836 St. Marys, Bathwick, Somerset (Bathwick was a district of Bath).

This is on the old familysearch and is a submitted entry.

Annette

[DRH123]

There's a fuller transcript on the Bath Forum Hundred Group.
http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/bathforumhundred/

SOM   Bathwick   St Mary      27 Oct 1836
Joseph   MERRETT     Elizabeth HARDING
Witnesses: George GREENMAN, Mary Ann BESANT, John WARD

No other home parishes are mentioned, so they were presumably recorded as "of this parish". But that only means they stayed there long enough for the banns to be read.

John Ward was a frequent witness and so probably the church warden or something similar and not related to the couple. George Greenman was also witness to a wedding three days earlier, of Elizabeth Greenman and John Goddard.

David

[d.v.j.redmond]

Thank you very much Annette and David. 

That is very likely to be the correct record. Is it normal on parish registers to not have the name of either father?

If so... and this may seem very silly question to an experienced family historian... how would you go about finding the correct baptism for either individual without the details of their parents?

All the best,

Dave

[Annette7]

Before 1837, when civil registration began, parish records did not state names of parents on marriages - usually just the status of the bride and groom (but sometimes not even that the further back you go), whether of the parish or elsewhere (again, not always shown) and the names of witnesses.

The information gleaned from the census shows what you need to look for.   

Joseph Merrett is shown to be bc.1813-1821 Dauntsey, depending on which census you look at - I personally think he was born c.1817 like Elizabeth (shown born 1818 when he died in 1884) but you would need to get this checked in the Dauntsey parish records (records for this parish aren't online for this period I'm afraid -  I did see that some public trees on Ancestry show him to be the son of a Thomas and Rachel but with nothing to substantiate it and I personally think they are wrong.   I found a transcript of Dauntsey parish records but they only go up to 1812.  A Thomas and Rachel had 3 sons 1790, 1793 (a Joseph) and 1797 but nothing shown after.

As to Elizabeth Harding bc.1813 (?) Christian Malford.

1851 Census, Christian Malford (ref.HO107 - 1836 - 750 - 5)

Joseph Merrett   38     Railway Lab.      b. Dauntsey
Elizabeth Merrett 38         b. Christian Malford
Francis Merrett   13                 ditto
Jane Merrett  11                      ditto
Matilda Merrett  8                    ditto
John Merrett 4                          ditto
Anne Merrett 1                         ditto
Richard Harding   father-in-law    75   Pauper formerly Carpenter b. Kemball (Kemble)
+ a lodger

So,  Elizabeth's father was a Richard.

Elizabeth Harding was bp.4/4/1817 Christian Malford (a little later than 1851 Census suggests), dau. of Richard Harding and wife Anne. (Joseph and family living with Richard and Ann in 1841 - Joseph and Elizabeth both shown as 20 but ages were rounded down in 1841 which means they could have been born anywhere between 1816-1821).

You can probably find out more on the Harding's at Christian Marlford on familysearch
but will need to establish where records for Dauntsey are held after 1812 (Wiltshire Record Office?) and duly make a search for a Joseph Merrett bc.1817-18.

Hope this helps.

Annette

[d.v.j.redmond]

Hi Annette! Thank you for all that information... lots of food for thought.

I had seen what others had said about Joseph Merrett's provenance but some of the dates just didn't make sense to me.

Hopefully I can get down to the Wiltshire Records Office at some point to scour the Dauntsey baptisms.

Now to peruse familysearch for the Hardings