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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