I have always assumed that, in the Church of England at any rate, it was and still is usual to marry in the bride's parish, which should be very useful in tracing family origins. Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1753 required standardised information to be registered, including the parish of origin. I have been looking at the registers of a rural parish in Hampshire, and after 1754 93% of the brides and 70% of the grooms were from the parish, showing that it is a fairly good assumption, if you haven't got the details, that the bride at least was from the parish. ( I know you have to be careful of the three-week residence rule upsetting this). Before 1754 it is a matter of luck if the origins of the couple are recorded in registers, but in the parish I am looking at most of the marriages from 1680 to 1753 show the parish of origin of the bride but very few grooms, and nearly 75% of the brides were from elsewhere. I am sure that some of this reflects a popularity of the parish that may be related to slightly dodgy backgrounds of the participants, but does it does suggest a major shift took place. Now as far as I know Hardwicke had nothing to say about a preference for marrying in the brides parish, so I am wondering how general it was and for how for long it has been the habit of marrying in the brides parish. Any ideas? Adrian

Adrian You've got to remember that what is recorded is the place they were living at the time of the marriage (or where there they said they were) and not necessarily where they were born. Also, I'd heard that some people kept a suitcase at a house in the parish in order to establish residency. Brian On 03/02/2015 13:24, Adrian Abbott via wrote: > I have always assumed that, in the Church of England at any rate, it > was and still is usual to marry in the bride's parish, which should be > very useful in tracing family origins. > > Hardwicke's Marriage Act of 1753 required standardised information to > be registered, including the parish of origin. I have been looking at > the registers of a rural parish in Hampshire, and after 1754 93% of > the brides and 70% of the grooms were from the parish, showing that it > is a fairly good assumption, if you haven't got the details, that the > bride at least was from the parish. ( I know you have to be careful of > the three-week residence rule upsetting this). > > Before 1754 it is a matter of luck if the origins of the couple are > recorded in registers, but in the parish I am looking at most of the > marriages from 1680 to 1753 show the parish of origin of the bride but > very few grooms, and nearly 75% of the brides were from elsewhere. I > am sure that some of this reflects a popularity of the parish that may > be related to slightly dodgy backgrounds of the participants, but does > it does suggest a major shift took place. Now as far as I know > Hardwicke had nothing to say about a preference for marrying in the > brides parish, so I am wondering how general it was and for how for > long it has been the habit of marrying in the brides parish. Any > ideas? > > Adrian > _____________________________________________ > > RootsWeb lists - surnames, regions, software, etc http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GOONS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >