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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