eloping to Rotherham, 1800s

[student325]

Thanks KG. My thoughts entirely. I have written to Rotherham Family History Society as I really would like to know if this happened a lot in Rotherham. If you know the town you'll see the quality of the registers compared with Sheffield and wonder about record keeping/ banns records in total. If no one knows anything about Rotherham, I think I'll need to close this topic.

[sallyyorks]

It wasn't unusual for people to migrate for work into the nearby industrial districts from Derbyshire.

Also the date (marr 1808) is during the Peninsular Wars and also some industrial unrest (Luddites etc).
He might have been in the army or militia and based at some point in or near Rotherham.

Could you give us the names for this couple? It might make it easier to understand what was happening

[student325]

Thanks. RootsChat is absolutely amazing for unraveling family trees. In this case I really need specific info on the town of Rotherham. Fear not I will return with a more family history type question (rather than local history question) soon. Thanks for all the ideas nonetheless.

[MagicMirror]

I have many ancestors from South Yorkshire and I have the impression (not hard evidence unfortunately) that Rotherham was indeed where couples went when they didn't want too many questions asked. One of my 3x gt grandmothers was 15 when she married there in 1851.

Some of the local experts at www.sheffieldindexers.com will probably be able to answer your question.

[dobfarm]

Is there a C of E parish or Quaker or Jewish record of this marriage in Rotherham 1808, was it by banns or special  licence where parents consent was given to miners, from 12 for girls-14 for boys upwards to marry. Rotherham may have been the grooms parish or where he worked. The girl could have lied about her age at marriage if she was very well developed for her age at 15.

[student325]

Thank you MagicMirror for the required local input. I have since found that my forebear (4x great) was third in line in terms of teen marriages. She was 15, her mother barely 17, and her father's mother just 16. They married in Dudley, Chesterfield and Rotherham, and I particularly was wondering about Rotherham and its lack of fuss (or obvious banns!). I will try the good folk at Sheffield Indexers as no reply forthcoming from the family history society. Cheers.

[KGarrad]

You only have to be resident in a parish for 3 or 4 weeks for banns to be called.
Or, should I say, allegedly resident!

Even today, when you apply for an Intention to Marry, you need to be resident at the address for just 7 nights (I think?).

The last time I was married, I was actually living in The Netherlands.
So, I temporarily moved into my daughter's home for the relevant time, before visiting the Registrar and getting the Intention to Marry.

A similar situation would happen in years gone by.

[Guy Etchells]

It was reasonably common for couples to travel to other parishes where they weren't known, in order to marry without anyone raising objections.

The whole purpose of calling banns over 3 successive weeks, is to allow such objections.
If nobody knows who you are, then who is going to raise an objection?

This is a common misconception, there is and never has been a requirement to call banns on successive or consecutive weeks.

The requirement is simply to call banns "upon three Sundays preceding the Solemnization of Marriage".

I would also add that for marriages by banns or by licence, there was no requirement to provide proof of the residence in the parish for 4 weeks prior to the marriage either.

Cheers
Guy

[dobfarm]

With trying to attain an exact date of birth or year prior to July 1837 thoses days, unless lucky enough to have a date of birth on a baptism or nonconformist record, as I said earlier girls by 15 to 18 years old can look/act more adult in years, and going to a place or parish the couple or more the underage minor was not known seems the likely situation of fibs about age being told - rather than Rotherham being another Gretna Green

ps: My own dad lied about his age at marriage, telling mum he was same age as her at 31, but he was really 28, mum only found out dads real age when he had to work 3 years longer when mum got to 65 and dad should have also retired on state pension the same year she thought.