Parish Records

[Lily]

I am starting to get to that stage in my searches that I will need to consult with parish records, which is fine for one side of the family as I think I have a lead as to which parish. The Bennett side of the family could prove difficult as having received my great great grandfather's marriage certificate today, it does not give me the lead on where to go next, as the address is listed as 'On Board of the Lion Revene Cutter Stationed at Dover'.

Help!

[Geoffers]

The Bennett side of the family could prove difficult as having received my great great grandfather's marriage certificate today, it does not give me the lead on where to go next, as the address is listed as 'On Board of the Lion Revene Cutter Stationed at Dover'.You don't give a date or occupation - but - from the marriage certificate you should hopefully have an age, his father's name and occupation which is a start.

Was he employed on the cutter - if so you might find some records relating to his employment as a seaman/customs officer. Does he appear in subsequent census returns so that you have a place of birth?

Geoffers

[Pam Downes]

Hi Lily,

OK. Rule number one.
English and Welsh marriage certificates give absolutely no indication of where a person was born. All they tell you is where a person was living at the time of the marriage.

Rule number two.
Don't panic! :D

Rule number three.
Begin with everyone's favourite website
www.familysearch.org
on which there is the online 1881 census. You don't give John or Esther's ages - which is one bit of information that you will find on the marriage certificate - but with a bit of luck names and ages on the 1881 will work wonders, and you will find them and their parish of birth. However always use the search option of +/- 2, 5, or 10 years, because we all know what little porkies our ancestors used to tell. If necessary leave the country of birth and census country blank too, as people in the Revenue could be sent anywhere. (I've seen instances where children have been born in Ireland and the father is then sent back to England for another posting.)
If you have no joy with the 1881, then I would suggest you post a request to the 'British census' thread in the Topics forum, asking if someone with Ancestry could possibly look for John Bennett and his wife Esther in the 1871 census. Add something along the lines of 'currently can't find them on the 1881, and the only info I have is that when they married in 1848, John was.. and Esther was... His occupation may be connected with Customs and Excise/Revenue. '
If you do have luck with the 1881, then you can still ask for an 1871 look-up, but this time you could add that according to the 1881 they were born in xyz.
The other possibility is to post names and ages (based on marriage cert) to the Kent forum. Kent FHS have produced an index for Dover in 1851, so even if no-one has a Kent 1851 census at home they may have the index and be able to quote piece and folio numbers for you to look-up.

Pam Downes

[Peter Goodey]

To be pedantic - and to avoid misleading Lily - Customs and Excise were two completely separate organisations during the 19th century. This guy was under the Board of Excise.

Actually, quite extensive staff records from both Customs and Excise have survived and can be seen at the National Archives. There's a leaflet on the subject which can be downloaded from TNA website.

As Pam says, the census sounds like a good place to start. Also, if you like a gamble, Dover might not be a bad place to start looking.

[Guy Etchells]

The 1881 census shows his birth as Great Warley, Essex so I would start there.
The parish registers for Great Warley have been deposited and are available at the Essex Record Office, Chelmsford.
Cheers
Guy