Chapel vs Cathedral marriage 1848 Manchester

[LynneOz]

I have been searching for my 3xgreat grandparents' marriage for some years. Thanks to a substantial amount of help from various net sources, I have been pointed to a marriage at Manchester Cathedral on 13 Feb 1848. The record is now available to view on Ancestry so I was able to see fathers, occupations and witnesses.

The grandparents in question were William Jones and Mary Ardern, both born in Wilmslow, Cheshire between 1805-10. After sifting carefully through census information, I determined that the most likely candidate for a father for William was Thomas Jones b abt 1780 in Wales who was listed as an 'ingine tender' in the 1841 census. This matches with the marriage record. I am pretty sure that the family was Wesleyan Methodist.

In 1841 William and Mary are in Lacey Green, Pownall Fee in the parish of Wilmslow with 4 children, the eldest born in 1835. In 1851 William and Mary are listed as married with the same 4 children plus my 2xgreat grandma, Helen Jones.

I have come up against "chapel" couples in one of my other very Welsh branches where the parents were "chapel-ed" rather than married in the CofE established church. I think that means that if they wanted legal proof of marriage they had to go through another established church ceremony. Is this right? or am I way off beam?

I am at a bit of a loss to try to get my head around why William and Mary Jones should be living in a parish with a couple of Wesleyan Methodist chapels and the beautiful St Bartholomew's church (CofE) through into their mid-30s and then get married in Manchester Cathedral in 1848. The census records do not seem to indicate any great change in occupation or fortune. They did move to Stockport from Wilmslow, but this did not seem to be an unusual thing to do for families at that time and their place of residence was listed as Heaton Norris on the marriage record in 1848. William was variously listed as a weaver or mill warper, so he continued employment in the cotton industry. They are in Stockport in 1861 and he seems to have died there in 1863.

The other thing that confuses me is that Mary Ardern Jones is listed as a widow and an annuitant in the 1871 census. She is living with her married daughter, Helena. I thought that during that timeframe it was only mariners or soldiers that left annuities and it is not obvious that William was either; monied people seemed always to be "living on own means". Could someone please explain that one to me.

Any glimmer of light down this particular tunnel will be most welcome.

TIA

[jac65]

Hi

I believe Manchester Cathedral was one of those churches that were less fussy regarding the conducting of marriages, It is possible that they were not actually living at the Heaton Norris address, it could have been a relatives address that they used. There are many reasons why they didn't marry in the local C of E, issues with the vicar, they may have wanted to marry on the quiet, or it was a matter of where was available at the time, it is difficult to say. Also Manchester is only 10 miles from Wilmslow and many Cheshire people certainly married there.

You need to track down possible non-conformist registers to see if there was a 'chapel' marriage at all, some information was provided to you on the Cheshire Rootsweb list, and if there was they may have felt it wasn't necessary to also have a C of E marriage at that time.

I don't know why she was an Annuitant but it could explain why there was a C of E marriage years later than expected, if the money came via William then I suspect that in order for Mary to receive it she would have had to be legally married, which in those days meant a C of E, Jewish or Quaker marriage.

Andy

[LynneOz]

Thank you. The explanation for the annuitant problem could be the reason for the late marriage. I must really use bucket and spade on the military service idea. If their first child was born in 1835 then they were both in their late 20s when they coupled up. I guess William could have been involved in the military/navy for some reason between 1820 and 1835. It had really never occurred to me until I started wondering why she had a pension.