Good morning, everyone. :-) We are beginning the transcription of the Townsend vital records. We're trying to figure out just what is the official date of a marriage intention. >From the Townsend records we have: May 13 1791 then Recd the Names of Lemuel Patts junr of Townsend and Milly Woods of Pepperel With their Intentions of Marriage - Certificate given June 6 1791 What is the official date? May 13th or June 6th? Also from Townsend, we find their marriage: June 13 -- Leml Potts jr of Townsend & Milley Woods of Pepperl Cross checking the Pepperell records, we find: Lemuel Pratt, Jr., of Townsend, and Millie Woods, int. May 21, 1791. Samuel Petts, Jr. [Lemuel. int.] of Townsend, and Milley Wood, at Townsend, June 13, 1791.* Milley Wood and Samuel [Lemuel. int.] Petts, Jr., of Townsend, at Townsend, June 13, 1791.* The Pepperell records show the intentios as being between the date received and the date the certificate was given in the Townsend records. So, which date is official? The date received or the date the certificate was issued? In our times, it would be the date of the certificate. Thank you. John Slaughte & Jodi Salerno _________________________________________________________________ Mortgage rates as low as 4.625% - Refinance $150,000 loan for $579 a month. Intro*Terms https://www2.nextag.com/goto.jsp?product=100000035&url=%2fst.jsp&tm=y&search=mortgage_text_links_88_h27f6&disc=y&vers=743&s=4056&p=5117

Hi John, You've got a 'problem' as intentions (or banns) were often posted as many as 3 separate times, usually consecutive weeks, in both the church of the bride, and if he was from elsewhere, in the church of the groom. Only *after* intentions were published, were the couple allowed to marry. Therefore you *could* conceivably have say 7 dates, one date for each intention/bann announcement in each of the two churches, the last date probably being that of the "certificate", and then the final date of the actual marriage ceremony. How you handle multiple dates is up to you <G>, but however you DO handle them, I suggest you note that it is "certificate", "first date of intentions", etc. for the sake of the researcher. As always, going back to the original records usually will solve the confusion. Bobbie ----- Original Message ----- From: "MAVitalRecords Project Slaughter" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 7:34 AM Subject: [Barnstable Co MA] What is the official date of marriage intention? > Good morning, everyone. :-) > We are beginning the transcription of the Townsend vital records. We're > trying to figure out just what is the official date of a marriage > intention. >>From the Townsend records we have: > May 13 1791 then Recd the Names of Lemuel Patts junr of Townsend and > Milly Woods of Pepperel With their Intentions of Marriage - > Certificate given June 6 1791 > > What is the official date? May 13th or June 6th? > Also from Townsend, we find their marriage: > June 13 -- Leml Potts jr of Townsend & Milley Woods of Pepperl > > Cross checking the Pepperell records, we find: > Lemuel Pratt, Jr., of Townsend, and Millie Woods, int. May 21, 1791. > Samuel Petts, Jr. [Lemuel. int.] of Townsend, and Milley Wood, at > Townsend, June 13, 1791.* > Milley Wood and Samuel [Lemuel. int.] Petts, Jr., of Townsend, at > Townsend, June 13, 1791.* > > The Pepperell records show the intentios as being between the date > received > and the date the certificate was given in the Townsend records. So, which > date is official? The date received or the date the certificate was > issued? > In our times, it would be the date of the certificate. > > Thank you. > > John Slaughte & Jodi Salerno > > _________________________________________________________________ > Mortgage rates as low as 4.625% - Refinance $150,000 loan for $579 a > month. > Intro*Terms > https://www2.nextag.com/goto.jsp?product=100000035&url=%2fst.jsp&tm=y&search=mortgage_text_links_88_h27f6&disc=y&vers=743&s=4056&p=5117 > > ------------------------------- > PLEASE NOTE: > Contact the List Admin at [email protected] or to search the > list archives, or find other useful information to help you use the list > more effectively, please click on the following link: > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/usa/MA/barnstable.html > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Hi, Bobbie. :-) Yes, it is a problem. We're not going to transcribe the entire record verbatim. The page images will be online and linked from each of the transcribed lines. In the case of this one >>May 13 1791 then Recd the Names of Lemuel Patts junr of Townsend and >>Milly Woods of Pepperel With their Intentions of Marriage - >>Certificate given June 6 1791 It would be something like: Patts, Lemuel and Milly Woods, of Pepperell, int. June 6, 1791. Woods, Milly, of Pepperell, and Lemuel Patts, int. June 6, 1791. This gets them indexed under both names and carries the pertinent information. Then, there'd be the link to the page at the end of the line. But, should we put May 13 rather than June 6? BTW, this was required by law. Later in the intentions we have some entered like this: June 10th 1776 Abner Brooks and Ana Hobart both of Townshend Stand Published as the Law Directs in order for Mariage. Take a look at Weston and Concord in Middlesex county to see how those are done. Go to http://www.rootsweb.com/~maessex/VitalRecords John & Jodi _________________________________________________________________ The average US Credit Score is 675. The cost to see yours: $0 by Experian. http://www.freecreditreport.com/pm/default.aspx?sc=660600&bcd=EMAILFOOTERAVERAGE