Marriage look up St Katharine's Blackrod

[deesearch]

Hello

I was just wondering if anyone had access to the St Katharine's records for marriages 1818-1820 and wouldn't mind doing a look up for me?

I believe my 4th great grandfather married a Margaret at St Katharines during that period. All of their older children were baptised at St Katharine's (ranging from 1820 to 1832), with the younger ones baptised at All Saints, Wigan (ranging 1835-1844).

The oldest 2 children, Mary & Thomas, were both baptised on the 2nd of April 1820. With this in mind I'm thinking their parent's marriage would have taken place a couple of years beforehand. It couldn't really be before 1818 because Margaret gives her birth year as abt 1802 on the 1851 census and at her death in Jan 1859 her age is given as 56. This means she would have turned 16 in 1818.

I would be grateful if someone could please have a look to see if a Crook/Crooks/Crooke marriage exists for the pair.

Many thanks for your help.

Deb

[garstonite]

Hiya Deb...
www.lan-opc.org.uk/Search/indexp.html
www.familysearch.org - search - advanced search - both sites only have one record for a
Richard Crook to Margaret Darbyshire 3rd may 1818 St Laurence ,Chorley

on both of the baptisms you have 3rd April 1820 at St Katherines - Richards occupation is a Miner ....so...could Richard Crook have been a Miner in Chorley?
or...was Margaret from Chorley - they married in her church - and moved to Blackrod because there was a mine there ?
12th june 1803 baptism of Margaret Darbyshire , St Laurence ,Chorley
born 15th May
father Thomas /mother Elisabeth.....age fits perfectly with the death you mentioned....and
Richard Crook baptised 26th april 1800 at St Katherines ,Blackrod - born 4th apr..........bastard son of Margaret Crook....abode ...Blackrod....this is why they went back to Blackrod.....back soon ..............allan

[garstonite]

OK Deb...Mapquest UK ...
St Laurence ,Chorley to St Katherines,Blackrod is 5 miles
so distance wise it looks a very possible marriage....but
Margaret Darbyshire would have been 2 weeks short of her 15th birthday when she married .....b15th May 1803 - married 3rd May 1818....I believe people could marry at 14 in those days...maybe someone else could confirm this....maybe someone a little more experienced than me can cast their eyes over these records and give us some input....everything fits....date wise / place wise ....it`s just Margarets age that is putting me off.......allan

[mosiefish]

Hi,

I agree with Allan that the marriage at Chorley would be the most likely.  It could not have been at St. Katherines  Blackrod as there were no marriages performed there between 1754 and 1837.  See Hardwicks Marriage Act, 1754. 

Looking at www.lancashirebmd.org.uk for the youngest children born after the introduction of civil registration,  Margaret, Elizabeth and Ellen are listed with the mothers maiden name shown as Derbyshire. 

Mo

[deesearch]

Allan & Mo

Thank you so very much for your input - it has been a very interesting & exciting read.

I did have the Chorley marriage sitting on the sidelines but was concerned about Margaret's age and so didn't think it was relevant. However, I didn't realise that there weren't any marriages between 1754 & 1837 at St Katherine's! I had seen references to baptisms & burials and had just assumed marriages were hidden away somewhere. That explains a lot and makes Chorley a more or less cert, especially with the maiden name Derbyshire given on the bmd website that you found.

I did a quick internet search on minimum age and apparently until 1929 it was 12 for girls and 14 for boys with parental consent!! This means Margaret aged 14 is very possible. Margaret & Richard had many children spanning 24 years, so age would have to have been on her side (poor thing!), but 14 nearly 15 does seem so very young!

Thank you also for the baptism information on Richard. I see that there are a lot of Crooks from Blackrod (the name not the occupation  ) and so I am hoping I might now find a bit more on the Crook side (given the father is now a road block).

Given there were no marriages at Blackrod would you know if Chorley was the closest place for Blackrod Crook residents to marry in the 1750's+ or is there another church that might also be favoured?

Thank you for your help, these has been interesting revelations. Despite the lack of a father for Richard I now have some more digging to do for Crook and now also Derbyshire. I'm pleased about that because Richard & Margaret's daughter (my 3rd gt GM) married my 3rd gt GF and he was an orphan so I haven't got much hope of going back further through his line  .

Deb

[mosiefish]

Given there were no marriages at Blackrod would you know if Chorley was the closest place for Blackrod Crook residents to marry in the 1750's+ or is there another church that might also be favoured?

Hi Deb,

It wasn`t a case of the closest place, by law from 1754 to 1837 marriages had to be performed in the local Parish Church or other licensed building by a member of the Church of England clergy, regardless of religion apart from Quakers and Jews.  Blackrod came under the Parish of Bolton le Moors, so you may find some Crooks being married at Bolton le Moors.

Usually, but not always, marriages took place in the Brides Parish, so Margaret may well have been living in the Parish of Chorley at the time of her marriage.  However, if Richard was living in Blackrod then he probably used what is known as a suitcase address in Chorley Parish for the duration of the Banns being read.  This was done by placing a bag of clothes at an address in the Parish to establish residency  It was to avoid paying for two sets of banns - One in Chorley and one in Bolton le Moors.

If you are ever unsure which Parish a particular town or village was in it is always worth checking Genuki Lancashire Towns and Parishes: 

http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/

Regards,
Mo

[deesearch]

Thank you Mo for all that information. That has been most helpful.

I have dug around a little more and found one more possibility: a Margaret Darbyshire baptised in Standish in May 1801 to parents William & Betty Darbyshire. Margaret gives her place of birth as Shevington in the 1851 census. Using your recommendation of Genuki I see Shevington did not have a church but came under Standish and so William & Betty are a possibility.

So I have Thomas & Elisabeth Darbyshire with a daughter Margaret from Chorley, which fits the wedding location, and a William & Betty with a Margaret  from Standish who fit the 1851 census birth place of Shevington.

I  will just have to try and trace both the William & Betty as well as the Thomas & Elisabeth to see if anything unravels. Unfortunately there are a fair few Derbyshires and lots of Elizabeth, Thomas and Williams so it might be a slow process. If only Margaret's father had been named at the wedding - would have made this so much easier!!

Thanks again.
Deb