MARRIAGES - PARISH OF LOWER HAWKESBURY; ST ALBANS
The first marriage was performed in the new parish of Lower Hawkesbury
on the 21st March 1831 by the Rev Thomas Sharpe. Up until the end of 1840
there were just 43 marriages performed, a little over one marriage every three
months, perhaps reflecting the sparsely populated nature of an otherwise
widely dispersed parish.
The information recorded for each marriage is as follows:
date
groom
family name
Christian name
year and ship of arrival
civil status at time of marriage
age at marriage
parish
bride
family name
Christian name
year and ship of arrival
civil status at time of marriage
age at marriage
parish
consent given by
officiating minister
reference number
The marriages are listed in chronological order.
Post 1826 all parishes were required to record all marriages on a standardized
printed form, which contained the following information: register entry
number, family name and Christian name of both bride and groom, residant parish
of the bride and groom, date of marriage, who gave consent to the marriage
and the officiating minister. Information recorded on the register but not
included here includes the names of the witnesses to the marriage (Interested
readers are urged to consult the original register for this information).
It should be pointed out that 'year and ship of arrival', 'civil status at time
of marriage' and 'age at marriage' for both bride and groom are all "value added"
additions researched by this work to complement the church register. As
explained above the age at marriage is a derived figure.
Of the grooms, 32 (76%) have been identified and for the brides 35 (83%). Only
eight (19%) of the marriages required the consent of the Governor reflecting
the more established and settled nature of the inhabitants of the parish.
The Rev. Thomas Sharpe ministered to the parish until the end of 1836 when the
Rev. Richard Taylor took over for the year 1837 and Rev. John Keane performed
the one marriage of 1838. There were no marriages performed in 1839. The Rev.
Henry Stiles performed the first marriage of 1840 and the last two were
performed by the Rev. Edward Pryce.
The reference number would direct the reader to the entry in the original parish
register. The numbers commenced from 1 and ran to 43 by the end of the decade.
To locate an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the name
would be made on Lists 3 or 4 using code "L-H" from which the date of marriage
would be retrieved, secondly using the appropriate date, the marriage would
then be located on this list.
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