Hi there Werty and Bron,
Werty, may I please urge you to pause, we need to concentrate on finding out what information was given to the Reverends when they were organising for Agnes' marriage at Mudgee and Mary Ann's at Gulgong.
That way we will be better able to determine if the lass at Gulgong was actually Agnes' sister. May I mention that it is quite possible that the lass at Gulgong was NOT related to Agnes. I mention this because Agnes is not noted as one of the official witnesses. IF they were orphaned sisters, one in Mudgee and one in Gulgong, I would have expected at least one would have been a bridesmaid for the other. However, we now know that Mary Ann was married according to the C of E rites, which is the same as Agnes. We also know that Mary Ann's husband was from Wallerawang, and that Mary Ann may well have been a regular at the C of E, Gulgong, as this is where she has obviously chosen to marry (ie not at Wallerawang, and not at Mudgee,).
I was hoping that either or both marriage transcriptions would show WHO gave consent for either or both of the girls to marry. So may I mention that perhaps the girls were at least 21 years of age when they married. YES, I realise this would conflict with info on Frances' 1864 dc. BUT it is just another reason to pause and to wait for the details from the original parish registers. I will be endeavouring to source Gulgong. But I could be delayed, or perhaps unable to achieve access. I will leave Mudgee for Judith finding time to get to the NLA, or perhaps other RChatters can get to SAG and help there.
Registration Number 04905
Date Married 24 DEC 1881
Place Married CHURCH OF ENGLAND PARSONAGE, GULGONG
Religion CHURCH OF ENGLAND
Name JOHN LONG
Name MARY ANN FIRTH
Conjugal Status BACHELOR
Conjugal Status SPINSTER
Birthplace NOT STATED
Birthplace NOT STATED
Occupation LABOURER
Occupation NOT STATED
Age NOT STATED
Age NOT STATED
Usual Residence WALLERAWANG
Usual Residence GULGONG
Father PARENTS NOT STATED
Father PARENTS NOT STATED
Mother
Mother
Occupation - Father
Occupation - Father
Witnesses EMILIE DOBSON, MARY JUDGE
Minister JOSEPH S. DOBSON
Werty, may I particularly strongly recommend you pause your searching for anyone else with the FIRTH surname (including your current endeavours for Patrick & Kate's family) until we have fully assembled ALL the missing info from the TWO marriages (Agnes at Mudgee and Mary Ann at Gulgong). I am suggesting this simply because it is usually 'best practice' in family history to work from validated information of the family connection. By this, I mean, we work from the known info, rather than from the unknown. We have not yet found any logical reason to look out for others with the FIRTH surname, and it seems to me that even Mary Ann FIRTH's Gulgong marriage could turn out to be for someone who is NOT related to Agnes. We need to wait and get the info. I am currently making some off line enquiries BUT I do have real life family commitments, and I am waiting for relatives from the Mudgee area to return to their own home, and to then find time to help me to help you, so it could be a week or more before I can help with the Gulgong 'dots' .
So, please Werty, pause the researching until we can give you some detailed and validated info to re-commence your research.
Cheers, JM
