Hi Maria I stand to be corrected on most of this, but this is my understanding The "Presbyterian" church has historically had a lots of factions and offshoots. It is the main church in Scotland ( called the Church of Scotland ), but had also had branches, offshoots and similar churches in England, Wales and Ireland. The cromwellians in the English Civil war of the mid-1600's were basically what would be called Presbyterians. After the Civil war ended, the "Church of England" regained its supremacy in england but the presbyterian church was the main church in Scotland and also strong in Wales and the North of England. But presbyterianism by its philosophical nature is a very decentralised type of religion compared to churches such as the Church of England or Roman Catholics. Lots of Scottish people moved to Northern Ireland about 400 years ago, and most of the "protestants" in Northern Ireland today would be mainly "presbyterians", whether or not they are actually called that. The reluctance of these people to join with the rest of Ireland which is mainly Roman Catholic is the reason for the separation of Ireland in 1920 and the continuing political difficulties there today. I would imagine that there would have been some "presbyterians" in Ireland in places other than Northern Ireland. As for his wife, there also would have been some "church of England" people in Ireland, but mostly not native Irish who would have been Catholic in the south of Ireland ( where Cork is ). Some Irish would have joined the Church of England to avoid the discrimination against Catholics which existed in both England and Ireland before the mid 1800's. Be aware that prior to Irish independence the "Church of Ireland" was the name of the branch of the "Church of England" in Ireland. It doesn't mean Catholic. Perhaps both Thomas and Ann came from families which were in Cork because their parents were in the military, or English civil servants of some kind, or merchants, or some other type of people that were living there but not really from there. Or they were both just members of what would in southern ireland have been a minority religion. As for the church they married in in Sydney, the experience of my ancestors is that where two people of different (protestant christian) denominations marry, it is usually but not always in the denomination of the wife. This has usually been because the wife is more interested in religion and the husband doesn't care too much. If one was a Catholic, it would have been a bit more of an issue I expect. In 1840 in Sydney, I would expect that they would have had a choice of CofE or Presbyterian whichever they wanted. Hope this helps. ----- Original Message ----- From: "ANDREW OUT" <meandre@iprimus.com.au> To: <AUS-NSW-SURNAMES-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, February 02, 2001 7:14 PM Subject: presbyterian church of scotland > My great grandfather Thomas Henry Wiseman married in the Presbyterian Church of Scotland in Sydney, 1841. > I have been trying to trace his birthplace, si lings and parents in Cork, Ireland about 1812. I only have his death certificate that states he was born in Cork. > Would it have been normal for an Irish person to marry in a Scottish church?. His wife Anne Hardum was definitely born in Cork, I have found her parents there. She was Church of England. > Anybody have information on this or did others from Ireland marry there? > I'm thinking that there may have not been a lot of choice. > thank you in advance > Maria in Perth > > > ============================== > Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project: > Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time. > http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com >