From: G6JPG@255soft.uk   
      
   On Tue, 23 Jun 2020 at 21:16:45, Ruth Wilson    
   wrote:   
   >On 22/06/2020 23:12, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:   
   >> I'm trying to trace a Mary Smith!   
   >>  Yes, about as impossible as it could be. My 5th Great Grandmother.   
   >>  Married at St. Oswalds, Cheshire (I think it's actually in Backford,   
   >>3.7  miles north of Chester), 1767-June-1, to George Mason; I have the   
   >>scan  of the marriage register entry. Both were of the/this parish.   
   >>Witnesses  Tho.s Smith and Samuel Mason. By Licence.   
   >>  I have also found in "Cheshire Marriage licence bonds and   
   >>allegations  1606-1905" a couple of documents (handwritten bits   
   >>, rest printed  form):   
   >>  "... we >Yeoman  and Thomas Smith of the City of Chester Carrier> are ... bound   
   >>... in  the Sum of  Pounds   
   >> ...   
   >> the above bounden  now licenced   
   >>to  be married together ..."   
   >>  1. Is Thomas Smith going to be Mary's father?   
   >> 2. Isn't a hundred pounds a vast amount in 1767 (King George III)?   
   >>  The other, similar, document (1767-6-1):   
   >>  "... appeared personally >of  Eastham and County and Diocese of Chester Yeoman> ... alledged and   
   >>made  Oath as follows, That he is of the Age of  Years   
   >>and  upwards, and a  and intends to marry >parish  of Saint Oswald in the City and Diocese of Chester> aged   
   >>  Years and upwards, and a  ... and he prayed a   
   >>Licence to  solemnise the said Marriage ..."   
   >>  3. "Years and upwards" puzzles me, as a specific number (25 and 21)   
   >>is  handwritten in; are these likely to be their actual ages?   
   >> 4. As she's 21 (or "upwards"?), why does her father (if Thomas _is_   
   >>her  father) need to be involved?   
   >> 5. Was it normal for a Licence to be "prayed" (I assume that means   
   >>applied for) the same day as the actual wedding?   
   >>  I'm new to marriage "bonds and allegations". Is it sort of a   
   >>(monetary)  deposit of good faith, that the couple are not related or   
   >>that there is  otherwise nothing that could impede the marriage? Was   
   >>the money actually  paid, and then refunded at some later date, or   
   >>just an obligation to pay  it accepted (which obligation became void   
   >>at some later date)?   
   >   
   >A couple of my ancestors from Liverpool both had marriage licences   
   >issued in Chester, 1743 and 1768. The first was also £100 but the   
   >second was £50. For this later one, I noticed that the other licences   
   >at this time were, I think, all for £100. I queried this on here many   
   >years ago and had a reply from Eve Mclaughlin (some of you will   
   >recognise and respect the name) who said my ancestor must have driven a   
   >good bargain!   
      
   (-:   
   >   
   >I think the second person named was the guarantor - I assume something   
   >like the best man - who would guarantee that the groom was going to   
   >turn up for the wedding. Neither of these licences of mine have a   
   >family name for the second person and in the later marriage he was also   
   >a witness in the parish register. I don't know if the money was paid up   
   >front (as you say, it is 2-3 years wages for a working man - mine,   
   >unsurprisingly, were mariners) or was there to be paid if the marriage   
   >didn't take place. I assume the latter, but I'm not 100 per cent sure.   
   >   
   >The two licences I have were issued one and two days before the marriage.   
   >   
   >21 and over is just saying you were in your legal majority, not stating   
   >a particular age (like saying you have held your driving licence for   
   >'over seven years').   
      
   That was my first thought - but one of mine has a 25 and over marrying a   
   22 and over. (Besides, the form has a space for it to be written in; if   
   it was just to show majority, the form could just have "is over 21 years   
   of age" pre-printed.)   
   >   
   >I don't know Chester especially well (I'm in Wirral), but I'm pretty   
      
   Closer than me - I'm in Kent, and have never been to the area at all!   
      
   >sure St Oswald parish was in Chester city centre - Find a Grave   
   >suggests it was part of the cathedral until 1882. Backford, I would   
   >imagine, would have been named as such.   
      
   Hmm. Well, there _is_ a St. Oswalds in Backford, only 3.4 miles from   
   Chester - see https://goo.gl/maps/M2urQ7H2Y1r4naN1A ;  it seems unlikely   
   that there'd be two (it's not a common name) so close together; I could   
   be wrong about that though! I hadn't thought of checking with FAG,   
   though - good steer.   
   []   
   --   
   J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf   
      
   The average age of a single mum in this country is 37   
   - Jane Rackham, RT 2016/5/28-6/3   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)