MARRIAGES - ST MATTHEWS WINDSOR ROMAN CATHOLIC

 
 
The first Catholic parish established outside of St Marys Sydney was 
St Matthews Windsor in 1835. The first marriage was performed in the 
new parish on the 8th January 1835 by the Reverend Father Christopher 
Vincent Dowling. Up until the end of 1840 there were 53 marriages 
performed.
 
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.
 
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).
 
Disppointingly none of the Catholic registers 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 
Governor's consent.
 
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, 33 (62%) have been identified and for the brides 31 
(59%). The consent of the Governor was required in 21 cases (38%).
 
Reverend Father Dowling was replaced in 1836 by Reverend Father James 
Vincent Corcoran, who in turn was replaced in 1839 the Reverend 
Father John Barry. The Reverend Father William Ullathorne 
performed severel marriages in 1835 and Reverend Father James 
McEncroe performed one in 1837.
 
There were no marriages in 1838 and only one in 1839 which would tend 
to indicate that perhaps these records have become lost.
 
The reference number would direct the reader to the entry in the 
original parish register. The numbers commenced from 1 and ran to 53 
by the end of the decade. 
 
There was one marriage in the State Archives Pioneer Series file which 
has no entry on this parish register. It is very likely that it 
results from a typographical error and relates to a post 1840 
marriage.
 
To locate an entry on this list; firstly an alphabetical search on 
the name would be made on Lists 3 or 4 using code "SMWR" 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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