Marriage Location

[PSRMJones]

I am researching the marriage of two of my ancestors, John CLUTTON and Sarah CLUTTON (Nee EDWARDS).  My research so far indicates they lived together after their marriage in Malpas, Cheshire.  Strangely enough there was another couple living at different address in Malpas at the same time with exactly the same names.  Two different John CLUTTON's married different Sarah EDWARDS.

I have found two marriages in the area showing a John CLUTTON marrying a Sarah EDWARDS.  One in 1836 at St. John the Baptist Church in Chester and one in 1841 in St.Oswald's Church Malpas. Based on birth dates for their children, the 1836 marriage appears to be the marriage of my ancestors.

Here is my concern.  John CLUTTON was born in Malpas and I would assume lived there all his life as that is where the family lived after the marriage.  Sarah EDWARDS was born in Caldecott, which is about 5 miles NW of Malpas.  I don't know Sarah's whereabouts before the marriage to John. 

My question.  Given the above information, why would John and Sarah get married in Chester, which is 15 miles north of their birth places?  Why would the Parish record for the marriage in St. John the Baptist Church state they they were both "of this parish"?

I suppose Sarah could have moved with her family to Chester and the marriage occurred in Chester because of that, but why would both be said to be living in Chester at the time of the marriage?

Any thoughts or comments would be most welcome.  It's fascinating to try and imagine why things happened so long ago; hopefully I am thinking along the right lines.

Phil

[avm228]

So your Cluttons I think are the John and Sarah who in 1851 are in Well St, Malpas with children Emma 13, John 8, Charles 4 and Eliza 11mo - is that right? HO107/2502/358/22.

[jim1]

To be "of this Parish" one only had to be resident for 3 weeks.3 weeks being the time the Banns were read.One or the other may have been working there or they may have had a "suitcase address" which is just an address for convenience.This avoided having to marry by Licence which had to be obtained from the Bishop at a cost.
Quite often couples wanted to marry at a particular Church other than the one in their home Parish,it may be just because they liked it better.You can't assume John Clutton spent all his life in the place he was born because he would have gone where the work was.
I would say they were both working in Chester & used that Church for conevenience.People didn't get much time off to get married.
jim

[avm228]

It's not uncommon to find people conveniently "resident" in their parish of marriage for the requisite 3 weeks covering the calling of banns- it doesn't mean they were long-term resident there and may only have amounted to having a suitcase deposited in a room in the parish for the duration.

So John might have established a residence of convenience in Chester if that was Sarah's family home - it would have saved the costs of having banns called separately in his home parish.

Or Chester might at the time have been a genuine residence for both of them. Many young people would have migrated to the county town for employment opportunities including apprenticeships, domestic service etc.

On the other hand it might not have been a genuine residence for either of them if they were eloping!  One set of my ggg-grandparents grew up in the same Suffolk town but their families didn't approve of their marriage due to religious differences (one was C of E, the other non-conformist) so (in 1852) they eloped to London, married in secret, and returned to their home town with a fait accompli, whereupon they proceeded to establish their family there.

Added: cross-posted with Jim

[jim1]

Great minds mate.

[avm228]

Great minds mate.

Indeed

[PSRMJones]

So your Cluttons I think are the John and Sarah who in 1851 are in Well St, Malpas with children Emma 13, John 8, Charles 4 and Eliza 11mo - is that right? HO107/2502/358/22.

Correct - Those are my GGG-Grandparents.

Thanks to every who replied.  I definitely learnt something today ...

Phil