Hi Michelle, one can only assume that the permission was denied the first time.. and they reapplied a couple of years later.. one or both of them may have completed their sentences or maybe they have served "good" time.. basically they behaved themselves and thought as such they should be able to apply again. Have you tried looking to find out when they did get married that should give you a clue.. if they didnt marry until after 1840 then you know that they obviously didnt get permission earlier. Remember in these early times the writing was practically undeciferable and most people could neither read or write and often had heavy accents.. and its all basically up to the person writing their name. So perhaps the original was difficult to read.. hence the errors with names.. or perhaps she used an alias.. it would really take a marriage registration that she bore witness to- to confirm her actual name. Ok.. so they were married in the Church of England in Port Macquarie in 1840 according to registration entries. I assume that it has been registered twice because of the Convict status.. I know no other reason for a double entry the CK part of it is the district in which the registration took place.. that is the Church of England Port Macquarie part. V1840120 44B/1840 WOOTTON THOMAS O'DONNELL MARY CK Buy Now<http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/Index/IndexingOrder.cgi/add?SessionID=15448607&Status=H&nregno=V1840120+44B/1840&certtype=marriage&nameofsub=THOMAS+WOOTTON+and+MARY+O'DONNELL&sname=Wootton&gname=&fname=&mname=&trange=1958&frange=1788&place=&event=marriages> V1840690 24B/1840 WOOTTON THOMAS O'DONNELL MARY CK Buy Now<http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/Index/IndexingOrder.cgi/add?SessionID=15448607&Status=H&nregno=V1840690+24B/1840&certtype=marriage&nameofsub=THOMAS+WOOTTON+and+MARY+O'DONNELL&sname=Wootton&gname=&fname=&mname=&trange=1958&frange=1788&place=&event=marriages> I Notice that Thomas Wootton got his certificate of freedom in 1830.. makes me wonder why he was denied permission to marry the first time. perhaps as Mary had only been here a short time.. Anyway I hope this helps Sue.