MARRIAGES - ST JOHNS PARRAMATTA

 
 
During  this  decade  there were 616 marriages  performed  at  St Johns,  seventy  
four more than the previous decade.  On  average a little over one marriage every 
week.
 
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).
 
The  Rev.  Marsden  was meticulous in also  recording  the  civil status,  ship 
of arrival and age of the parties (one of  the  few ministers to record these 
details).
 
At least in the case of the brides, by noting the information  in the   "with   
the   consent   of"   field,   for   example   "the governor/master" or 
"parents/father/guardians" at least indicates if she was a convict or came free 
or colonial born.
 
Disppointingly in 1837 Rev Bobart ceased to record the "with  the consent  of"  
field, however for the purposes of  this  work,  if either  or both parties were 
serving convicts it is assumed  they needed the Governors consent.
 
With regard to the grooms 489 (80%) have been identified and  the brides  500  
(82%)  have  been identified.  The  consent  of  the Governor was required in 
369 cases (60%).
 
The Rev Marsden continued his chaplancy from the previous  decade until  his  
death  on the 12th May 1838, he  performed  his  last marriage  on  the  1st 
January 1838. The  Rev  Henry  Bobart  was appointed  his  curate in 1837, he 
took over the  chaplancy  upon Marsdens  death and in June 1838 he proudly signed  
himself  for the first time "minister of St Johns parish".
 
The  chaplains and ministers assisting the Rev Samuel Marsden  in his parish each year included:
 
1831: Charles Dickinson, William Cowper, Charles Wilton 
1832: Charles Dickinson, Robert Forest, Thomas Hassall, John Vincent,  
1833: Charles Dickinson, Archdeacon William G Broughton 
1834: Robert Forest
1835: Henry Bobart, Charles Dickinson, Robert Forest, Thomas Hassall, Robert Maunsell 
1836: Charles Dickinson, Robert Forest, Richard Taylor, Frederick Wilkinson
1837: Henry Bobart, Bishop William G Brougton, Charles Dickinson, Robert Forest, Thomas Hassall
1838: Thomas Hassall, John Vincent, Charles Wilton
 
The chaplains and ministers assisting the Rev Henry Bobart in his parish each year included:
 
1838: Charles Dickinson, Robert Forest  
1839: William Clarke, Robert Forest, Thomas Hassall, John Troughton, George Woodd
1840: William Clarke, John Troughton
 
In  1831 Rev.William Cowper married his own son at St  Johns.  In 1833 Archdeacon 
William Grant Broughton married Governor Bourke's daughter to the colonial 
secretary at St Johns.
 
The Reference Number would direct the reader to the entry in  the original  parish 
register. In this decade the numbers start  from G270  (jumping from F057 at 
the end of 1830) and run to  G504  by the   end  of  1834,  then  initialized  
to  H001  in  1835   and initialized again in 1839 to J001 (J004 was duplicated),  
running to J155 by the end of the decade.
 
There  were 28 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 "SJP"  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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