Unmarried with children?

[chopendoz]

I have a possible connection of another family tree with mine. If proven it could lead to a Third Fleet convict.
According to the other tree, William GREW (1863) married Alice APPERLEY (1862) and they had 5 children all born in Sydney, Australia. The first birth was in 1885. There is a record in the 1881 UK census of a William S. GREW aged 17 - a painter and paperhanger living in King’s Norton with his parents. There is also a record in the 1881 UK Census of an Alice APPERLEY born 1861 and aged 20 - living as a servant to a Cheltenham clergyman named WHINGATE.

However, there appears to be no record of a marriage in the UK nor can I find a record of a marriage in Australia.
There is no record of any ship board marriage either.

Where do I go next? Perhaps they did not marry!

[Ed Bradford]

First of all, it is entirely possible that they did not formally marry but just lived as husband and wife. Secondly, since you didn’t find a shipboard marriage I’m assuming that you have record of which ship(s) they traveled on. The way they are listed in the ship’s manifest is a clue as to when the “marriage” occurred. If they have different surnames then we can assume that they didn’t take up “marriage” until after the reached Australia. If they traveled on the same ship, it’s possible that a romance developed aboard ship. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the records that I would need to do the research. I hope that I’ve provided some clues as to where to look next. ……………Ed

[chopendoz]

I should clarify - a search was made (not by me) of all ship board marriages for the relevant period without any result.
There is apparently an index of some sort. My next move seems to be, checking the passenger ships from England to Australia between 1881 and 1885. I am not sure if the passenger lists or manifests are even available.

[Ed Bradford]

There seems to be lists available. I used Google to search for ship passenger lists bound for Australia and got a lot of hits. There may be some formal documentation in the Austrailian Archives or some other research faciliity in Australia. I'm not familiar with what's available. Maybe someone from Australia can assist here on the forum. I wish I could be more help.
..........Ed

[Procat]

Hi,

I would suggest that you purchase one of the Birth Certificates. This can be ordered online at:

http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/

unfortunately you will need to wait as they only issue them by mail and they are not very fast doing it.

Select on the left menu Family History then on the left menu Search Historical Indexes then in the body of the screen Search Now then in the body of the screen Birth & Death records.

Australian birth records give the names (including maiden name of the mother) and ages of the parents along with the date and place of marriage, their place of birth, fathers occupation and also names and ages of previous issue - and of course the details of the new born.

If nothing else it should confirm you have the correct couple or not. Keep in mind they may have told porkies to the Registrar of course.

This site has NSW shipping records though I had a quick look and could find nothing. They may have arrived in another state and travelled overland of course.

http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/

[chopendoz]

[QUOTE=Procat]Hi,

I would suggest that you purchase one of the Birth Certificates. This can be ordered online at:

http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/

I assume that you mean the Birth Certs of the children?
What do Australian Birth Certs actually state? They may tell me that two people of the right names were the parents, but they may not be the right people. It largely depends on the detail given.

[Procat]

[QUOTE=Procat]Hi,

I would suggest that you purchase one of the Birth Certificates. This can be ordered online at:

http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/

I assume that you mean the Birth Certs of the children?
What do Australian Birth Certs actually state? They may tell me that two people of the right names were the parents, but they may not be the right people. It largely depends on the detail given.

Yes, one of the Birth Certificates of the children.

As I stated in my first post the certificate should show

"Australian birth records give the names (including maiden name of the mother) and ages of the parents along with the date and place of marriage, their place of birth, fathers occupation and also names and ages of previous issue - and of course the details of the new born."