Marriage Certificate Witnesses. How Many?

[emmteeyess]

...As regards witnesses not having a connection to the couple - ...

Cheers, MTS

Now I can't get this out of my head!!
Have been trawling through the Bishop's Transcripts for Sunderland marriages for 1836 - (found the one I wanted - phew ) but noticed a George Lord witnessing nearly every marriage. Sometimes as the 2nd witness, sometimes as a 3rd witness. Looks like he signed and didn't just make his mark.

I couldn't help but count up a few pages, approx 2 months. Of 32 entries he was 2nd witness 19 times, 3rd witness 11 times and only missed 2 weddings.
My guess is he was some sort of church warden - although he wasn't named as such in 1831 - once again I haven't time to dig deeper.

I've just got to stop obsessing about this now!


Cheers, MTS

[AntonyMMM]

Churchwarden/parish clerk witnessing most of the marriages in a register seems to occur in quite a few parishes

[stepives]

I had 6 witnesses at my marriage, in 1999. 2 at my first marriage in 1974. The only limit, is the space available on the register.

Some pre 1837 marriages I've come across, have the usual family witnesses, plus 'other' witnesses, usually friends. So usually 2, but sometimes more.

Steve.

[JLouiseP]

Most of the families I am researching are Quakers, or are lapsed Quakers. These marriage certificates are a great source of information, and usually give at least the names, location & occupation of the parents of the Happy Couple. The number of witnesses is determined by the number of people who attended that particular Meeting for Worship, which doesn't necessarily include family members if they were not at Meeting. Quaker marriages are conducted by an appointed officer for marriage within the regional Quaker community.
Hope this helps a bit.