Thanks, Joanne, I had no sooner sent the message than I remembered that I had not searched FreeBMD for Robert's marriage. It turns out that his children also show up in FreeBMD but not in the parish registers. They lived at the Croft Cottages in Luxulyan for at least 20 years (1851, 1861, 1871 censuses), so that they were not moving around, but they seem to have been content with civil and not religious registration. On the Benedict Edwards - Maria (Roach) Collins marriage however, I had already checked FreeBMD, and there is nothing there for their marriage (nor any parish records either at the four parishes that I searched page by page, nor any entries in Cornwall OPC). So they are still a potential common law marriage. ___________ Hi Wesley, The marriage of Robert EDWARDS and Christiana MARK was legal, not common law. It's on FreeBMD registered in the March quarter of 1847, registration district of Bodmin, Vol.9, page 63. If you order the certificate you'll learn if it was a church wedding or a civil one at the registrar's office. Joanne Toronto, Canada ----- Original Message ----- >I have come across two brothers who seem to have had common law wives, >since all my efforts to find a marriage record for them in Cornwall have >found none, and they were well into Cornwall all their lives, so that a >Devon marriage seems unlikely. > > On 4 Nov 1844, Robert Edwards' wife Cassandra Mark was buried at Luxulyan. > Her sister Christiana who had witnessed their marriage in 1836 apparently > became Robert's wife, since his wife is shown as Christiana in the 1851, > 1861 and 1871 censuses. I have not been able to find any baptisms for any > of Robert's children by either Cassandra or Christiana -- except the first > of all his children, Mary (Luxulyan, 1837). And I have not been able to > find any church marriage record of Robert and Christiana, who must have > married in 1845 - probably at either Luxulyan or Colan. So it appears > Robert and Christiana entered into a common law marriage in 1845. > > Robert's older brother Benedict Edwards' wife Elizabeth Harris was buried > 7 Dec 1862 at St Blazey. From the 1871 census onward, the censuses show > him with wife Maria, who was apparently Maria Roach, widow of William > Collins at Tywardreath. I have searched the parish marriage registers of > St Blazey, Par, Luxulyan, and Tywardreath for the marriage of Benedict > Edwards in the 1862-1871 period and also searched for a marriage at > Cornwall OPC, but there seems to never have been a church marriage. So it > also appears that Benedict Edwards and Maria (Roach) Collins entered into > a common law marriage in the 1862-1871 period. > > These cases are unique among all the families I have researched. So it > appears that common law marriage was not at all common and in fact was > rare. I'd like to hear from others about these marriages, in case there is > something I am missing here.

In the case of Robert Edwards and Christiana, the marriage may not have taken place in a church because marrying your wife's sister was not allowed at the time and the Vicar may have known of the relationship whilst the Registrar didn't (the  law was changed in 1907 by the Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act).  So although they underwent a civil ceremony, strictly speaking they weren't legally married!   Regards,   Joy ________________________________ From: Wesley Johnston <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, 29 January 2013, 8:41 Subject: Re: [CORNISH-GEN] Common law marriages? Thanks, Joanne, I had no sooner sent the message than I remembered that I had not searched FreeBMD for Robert's marriage. It turns out that his children also show up in FreeBMD but not in the parish registers. They lived at the Croft Cottages in Luxulyan for at least 20 years (1851, 1861, 1871 censuses), so that they were not moving around, but they seem to have been content with civil and not religious registration. On the Benedict Edwards - Maria (Roach) Collins marriage however, I had already checked FreeBMD, and there is nothing there for their marriage (nor any parish records either at the four parishes that I searched page by page, nor any entries in Cornwall OPC). So they are still a potential common law marriage. ___________

Good evening, Further to the discussion about common law marriages, I believe that my 2xgreat grandparents Thomas Veale and Charity Edwards had a common law marriage. Charity, daughter of Andrew Edwards and Mary Chaple of Cryer married James Tregurtha bp at St Leven 1818, son of Thomas and Jane Tregurtha, January 25th 1845 at St Just in Penwith. Charity and James had a son bp at Sancreed November 15th 1846. James Tregurtha married Louisa Batcock July 18th 1849 at Plymouth. Their son Mansell Thomas was baptised November 14th 1847 at Newlands By Keswick, Cumberland, England. In the 1851 Census James and Louisa were living in Stoke Damerel, Devon. In the meantime Charity Tregurtha nee Edwards has immigrated to Australia arriving with Thomas Veale, son of William Veal and Loveday Tonkin of Madron in Port Phillip(Melbourne) in May 1849. They travelled as Thomas and Charlotte Vale of Penzance. Thomas was named as a miller which was Thomas Veale's occuapation in Australia. William Veale, son of Thomas Veale and Charity Edwards was born December 1849 and baptised in Port Phillip May 20th 1850. I have not been able to find a marriage either in the UK or Australia for Thomas Veale and Charity Edwards/Tregurtha. I have decided that their marriage must have been common law as Charity was still married to James Tregurtha as late as 1857 when he died. If supposition is correct, James Tregurtha was a bigamist! Regards, Leigh Prideaux melbourne, Victoria, Aus