Hi Gloria and list Remarriage of a widow or widower: A marriage in New South Wales in 1858 was governed by the Marriage Act 1855 (NSW). This Act commenced its operation on 1 March 1856. Section 4 of the Act required each of the intending parties to sign a declaration (upon oath or a solemn affirmation) in the presence of the religious Minister or, in the case of a civil ceremony, the District Registrar who would be officiating at the ceremony (or a "Surrogate for licenses"). That is, there was no longer a need for the publication of Banns or the grant of a license in ordinary dispensing with the calling of Banns. The form of declaration was set out in a schedule to the Act. Essentially, it required the intending Groom and the Bride to each swear that they believed there was no impediment to the marriage including "lawful objection by reason of ... any former Marriage". If the declaration was falsely sworn or affirmed, the offending party was liable to prosecution for perjury. Of course, bigamous marriages were not unknown. There was substantial dislocation because of the Gold Rush. Have you looked at other States? New Zealand? Wesleyan Methodist Society marriages New South Wales was years ahead of England in granting relief to persons who did not subscribed to the Church of England. In late 1839, the Legislative Council enacted "An Act to remove Doubts as the the Validity of certain Marriages had and solemnized within the Colony of New South Wales by Ministers of the Wesleyan Methodist Society and to regulate the Registration of certain Marriages Baptisms and Burials." This Act confirmed that all Wesleyan marriages performed before and after the passing of the Act were as valid as if they had been performed by Clergymen of the Church of England Presbyterian Ministers or Roman Catholic Priests - Presbyterians and Catholics having been emancipated by earlier laws. In 1840, Congregationalist marriages were similarly confirmed. The Marriage Act 1855 (NSW) consolidated the law: provided that the Minister of Religion who was to celebrate the marriage was registered with the Registrar General for Marriages in Sydney, you were free to choose whatever religious service you wished or have a non-religious ceremony before a District Registrar. Quakers and Jews were exempted the operation of the Act (as they were in England) provided that a marriage certificate was lodged within ten (10) days. Other religious celebrants had to lodged within one month. It isn't unheard of to find a person baptised in one denomination, married in another and buried as another. Why? intermarriage, conversion, social climbing maybe even fashion or convenience? I don't have any figures before me for 1858 but by 1891 the following figures show the percentage of persons of one denomination married to a person of the same denomination in New South Wales (figures from the 1891 Census from a table in Hans Mol "Mixed Marriages in Australia" (1970) 32 (No 2) Journal of Marriage and the Family pp 293-300): Anglican 85.83 Catholic 81.17 Methodist 86.08 Presbyterian 78.75 D. N. Jeans and E. Kofman in their "Religious Adherence and Population Mobility in 19th Century New South Wales" (1972) 10 Australian Geographical Studies pp 193-202 analysed census data to find: "Australia was not an area of active proselytisation in the nineteenth century, except for the small Methodist group. Adherence was relatively stable from census to census, though the Church of England group fell steadily in importance, and it can be suggested that children took the religion of their parents for the most part ... ." According to the Sydney Morning Herald, there was a Wesleyan Chapel in Mudgee from 1853: http://www.smh.com.au/news/New-South-Wales/Mudgee/2005/02/17/1108500197707.html So why was the marriage performed at a private residence? Perhaps someone who knows more about these sects can explain why Methodist marriages were performed in private houses (I've come across a few of these) rather than in Chapel? Is this pointing to a "mixed marriage"? or is it because the parties were regarded as adherents rather than members? I have a 1915 marriage at a Methodist Parsonage but the bride was a divorcee which I have always presumed to be the reason for not having the wedding next door in the church. Was the practice the same for widows/widowers? Regards On 3 March 2010 17:49, Gloria Hargreave <smith-thompson@bigpond.com> wrote: > Could some kind Lister please tell me if when a widow or widower was remarrying ( mid 19th century) would proof of death of previous spouse be required? If so, what? >  We are searching for the death of an ancestor Thomas Hampton between his arrival in Australia in 1855 and his wife remarrying in Mudgee in 1858. We have not found a death registration. >  Another question is ' why would she marry in a private home using a Methodist Minister, when she was supposedly C/E. She remarried twice, once in 1858 and again in 1872. I understand there was an encumbant C/E minister at this time.