Taken from the printed version of St. Bees Parish registers, transcribed by H.B. Stout, A.R.I.B.A. and published by CWAAS which I trust is not subject to copyright. 13th December 1784 JEREMIAH RULE, seaman and HANNAH HODGSON, widow of this parish married by R. Scott (Rev. Robert Scott, minister) Witnesses: Jeremiah Rule and John Rule Fairly straighforward one would think until one reads H. B. Stout's notes at the back of the book where he gives details of a newspaper clipping found in the book dated 13th December 1784. I wonder if it was clipped out and saved by Rev. Scott or the parish clerk. Surely it was one of the more unusual marriage ceremonies Rev. Scott was called on to perform. "At St. Bees, Cumberland, Mr. Jeremiah Rule, aged 19, to Mrs. Hannah Hodgson, widow, aged 61, being the fourth time she has honoured the marriage register book with her name. In the evening several of the relations by her former husbands went to the apartments of the new-married couple to pay their respec to their young grandfather; a great number of the neighbours also attended on the occasion to congratulate him on the prudent choice he had made, loudly applauding that philosophic disposition which would prefer the ripened charms of three-score, which cannot possibly suffer by change, to the blooming beauties of youth, which are known to be as fading as any flowers." So a 42 year gap between the couple's ages with the lady being the elder of the two. History, so far as I am concerned from the St. Bees registers, does not relate the fate of the partners of the marriage. This age gap is more to be remarked on than one the other way round of 43 years. 1st August 1843 at Wigton Parish Church JOHN MOSSOP, widower and MARGARET PEARSON, spinster were married. Witnesses: Mary Pearson, Jane Pearson, F. W. Reed (This may not be the exact wording as temporarily I cannot put my hand on the certificate) Rev. John Mossop was the Vicar of Hothfield, Kent though he came from the Rottington Hall family near St. Bees. He had been a childless widower for 15 years and was then aged 69. Margaret was aged 26 and is believed to have been a niece of one of John's relatives though I have not been able to prove the connection. In this case Margaret was able to bear John a son and a daughter who inherited considerable property, much in London, from their father when they came of age. His first wife had been wealthy in her own right and it is said that she and her unmarried sisters left John all their property. Rev. John died in October 1849 when his children were 5 and 3 years old. Margaret remarried to John Henry Wagner in Q3 1851 and had at least one daughter, Edith. The property settlements when Rev. John's children came of age and took over their inheritance from their mother's trusteeship are at Whitehaven Record Office. They gave the name of her second husband which I did not previously have. Rev. John's son, John Henry, was apparently Captain of Boats at Eton and matriculated from Christ Church college, Oxford in 1865. He never married but left the bulk of his estate to his half sister/s and his nephews. Rev. John's daughter Mary Aynscombe Mossop (named for his first wife) married Sir William Alexander Baillie-Hamilton, KCMG at St. George's, Hanover Square, London in 1871 and had two sons. One could say that Margaret Pearson made a "good marriage" and one hopes that Jeremiah Rule felt that he had made the right choice also. Rev. John Mossop and Hannah Hodgson no doubt benefitted from the company of their much younger spouses. Jill Coulthard