MARRIAGES - ST JAMES MELBOURNE; PORT PHILLIP DISTRICT

 
 
The first marriage was performed at St James Melbourne on the 30th May 1837 
by the Rev Naylor. Victoria did not sseparate from New South Wales as a separate 
colony until 1851 and after John Batman's treaty with the aboriginies of the 
Port Phillip District in 1835 settlers from Van Diemens Land started to cross 
Bass Strait and settle in the new lands when St James was still under the 
Anglican Diocese of Sydney. Up until the end of the decade there were 160 
marriages performed at St James.
 
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
 bride 
 family name
 Christian name
 year and ship of arrival
  civil status at time of marriage
 age at marriage
 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.
 
The church register does not record the parish of the parties (perhaps it 
was assumed they were all from the Port Phillip District) and the 'consent 
given by' column was not completed except in a couple of cases.
 
Of the grooms, only 7 (4%) have been identified and for the brides only 
11 (7%). Not being from New South Wales it was very difficult to trace the people 
in the region at the time. For the few serving convicts who have been identified 
it is assumed that the Governor gave consent for the marriage.
 
The Rev.I Bangly Naylor only performed the one marriage in 1837, he was followed 
by the Rev.John Couch Grylls in 1838 and 1839 whilst three chaplains ministered 
in 1840; Rev.James Yelverton Wilson then Rev.Rochfort Burrow Grange finally 
the Rev.Adam Compton Thomson.
 
The reference number would direct the reader to the entry in the original parish 
register. The numbers commenced from 1 and ran to 160 by the end of the decade. 
 
There were four marriages in the State Archives Pioneer Series file which 
have no entry on this parish register. It is very likely that most of these 
result from typographical errors and relate to post 1840 marriages.
 
To locate an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on the name 
would be made on Lists 3 or 4 using code "SJ-M" 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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