Quote Originally Posted by Kerrywood View Post
If you're referring to the allegation for the licence, it's a gamble that any ages will be stated at all. A common form of words on a VG licence allegation at this period would be '21 years and upwards', which tells you relatively little.

On the other hand, if one of the spouses was under age, a consenting parent might be named. But you might want to consider post #2, where a possible birth/baptism date for Rosina was found (if it's the same person).

As you say, it's a gamble!
Yes, I'm afraid that the ages will most likely not be helpful on the allegation. Seems that we get few breaks with this quest! But, at this point there is not much else to go on.

I do have the baptismal record for Rosina Sarah Ann Wells, so I an confident I know her birthdate and her parents names. Because of the record, I know she was not underage and actually quite "old" for a marriage at that time. Although she was baptised in 1823, she was born in 1802. I would assume that Thomas Ponton would be close to her age or older. At least in the US anyway (I have less experience with UK history), it was very uncommon for the groom to be signficantly younger than the bride, although much more common for the bride to be younger than the groom.

Unfortunately, the name Thomas Ponton is too common for records like the census to be helpful until we get an approximate birthdate or even birthplace. I will not give up, though. I feel like these people who were so brave--to move to a new part of the state that no roads, etc--should not be forgotten.