Hello Ron: Perhaps Portsea/Portsmouth is not such a suprising place after all, especially if they didn't want people to know about their wedding. My great great grandparents, James Piguenit Parker and Sarah Wright, both from Chichester families and who had lived all their lives there, were married in Portsea in 1839. The story goes that they eloped as Sarah's father was not happy about the match. When I found their marriage certificate, I wasn't surprised he was unhappy as Sarah was just 18 and James 20, even though they both said they were of full age on the certificate. The marriage took place after banns were called and so they had managed to hide away for at least three weeks before the marriage took place - the only family witness being one of James's sisters who was obviously in on the act. Vivien Chandler (Member No 491) Message: 1 Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:56:43 +0000 From: Ron Cowell <ron.cowell@virgin.net> Subject: Re: [SXP] BENTLEY and STONE To: Anne Capewell <alc_goytre@hotmail.com> Cc: sussex-plus-l@rootsweb.com Message-ID: <47B5A82B.4060005@virgin.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Hello Anne That is quite amazing. I had not even considered anything outside Sussex and Portsea is a long way off. I'm not sure whether there was a train service at that time.If your theory is correct then I suppose it was the nearest big city where they could have gone and been completely unknown. Thank you. Ron