Genealogy Chat

I did wonder if Sarah died as the first marriage was 14.4.1729 and the second to Martha was 2.3.1730 so it was nearly a year in between the marriages.



Marianne.

Definitely two marriages, then. I wonder what happened to Sarah?

It was a bit confusing as his first wife was named as Sarah Delyt and the second was named as Martha Taylor.


Seems to have been a busy lad.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Marianne.

Many thanks for all the information Ivy. I will go and have a look at the web sites you mentioned.


Marianne.

Also, he might not have married twice. Although we currently use a calendar year from 1 Jan to 31 Dec, in the 1720s, the year ran from 26 March to 25 March (one of the "usual quarter days"), so dates from 1 Jan to 26 Mar are often written 1729/1730 (to avoid confusion, ho ho)

- sorry, that's slightly misleading, see this extract instead:

"In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII (1502–85), who was pope from 1572 to 1585, and his astronomer and mathematician created a new, reformed calendar known as the Gregorian or New Style (N.S.) calendar. It was adopted first in Roman Catholic countries. Protestant countries adopted the calendar during the eighteenth century.

In order to make the calendar adjustment in 1582, ten days were eliminated from October. Thus 4 October 1582 was followed by 15 October 1582.

England and its American colonies did not adopt the reformed Gregorian calendar until 1752......

Double Dating
Double dating was used in Great Britain, colonial British America, and British possessions to clarify dates occurring between 1 January and 24 March on years between 1582 and 1752. In the ecclesiastical or legal calendar, March 25th was recognized as the first day of the year and was not double dated."

From
http://tinyurl.com/5yzdam

In the 1750s Fleet Prison was mainly used for debtors and bankrupts. It usually contained some 300 prisoners and their families. Some inmates were forced to beg from their cells that overlooked the street, in order to pay for their keep. Fleet Prison is described by Charles Dickens in his novel The Pickwick Papers and was featured in The Rake's Progress by William Hogarth. Fleet Prison was demolished in 1846.

(from

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/LONfleet.htm )

Fleet Marriages

Before Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act of 1754, marriages did not legally have to take place in church. In the late 17th century about a half of all marriages in London were clandestine marriages with no questions asked, with no banns or licences. One of the most well known centre for clandestine marriages was the Fleet Prison. Fleet marriages took place in the area just around the Fleet prison by clergymen debtors, and all types of people were married here.

(from
http://www.westminster.gov.uk/libraries/archives/family-history/parish-registers.cfm )

I have an ancestor who seems to have married twice in the Fleet Prison in London. The first time in 1729 and the second time in 1730.
Why did he get married there can any one enlighten me please?

Marianne.