Thomas Jones - Judith Greenway, Monmouth marriage 1803. (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Wednesday, November 23, 2011, 01:29 (4745 days ago) @ Jefff

Good evening Frances,

I think I MAY have cracked it.
That said due to the high number of Thomas Jones' in the area then nothing's certain to my cynical mind, indeed after several false trails I'd nearly given up.

Anyway from this site's PRs I found this POSSIBLE prior marriage for Thomas:

Record_ID: 98373
Entry_Number:
Year: 1803
Month: Oct
Day: 6
Grooms_Surname: JONES
Grooms_Forenames: Thomas
Grooms_Age:
Groom_Condition: bachelor
Grooms_Occupation:
Grooms_Residence: of this parish
Grooms_Fathers_Surname:
Grooms_Fathers_Forenames:
Grooms_Fathers_Occupation:
Brides_Surname: GREENWAY
Brides_Forenames: Judith
Brides_Age:
Brides_Condition: spinster
Brides_Occupation:
Brides_Residence: of this parish
Brides_Fathers_Surname:
Brides_Fathers_Forenames:
Brides_Fathers_Occupation:
Licence_or_Banns: Licence
Date_of_Banns:
Signature_or_Mark: Both sign
Witness_1: Thomas Mason
Witness_2: Mary Gwillam
Other_Witnesses:
Officiating_Minister:
Event: Marriage
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference:
Page_Number:
Parish_Chapel: Monmouth
Soundex_Groom: J520
Soundex_Bride: G650

And this POSSIBLE Burial for Judith:

Record_ID: 296673
Entry_Number:
Year: 1805
Month: Aug
Day: 15
Surname: JONES
Forenames: Judith
Residence:
Age_at_death:
Officiating_Minister:
Event: Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda: w/o Thos Jones
Notes:
Register_Reference:
Page_No:
Parish_Chapel: Monmouth
Soundex: J520

THANKFULLY and quite unusually in my experience the anonymous(?) Minister has entered the helpfull memoranda note "wife of Thomas Jones" which does rather help our case.

In my albeit limited experience such a note is unusual; this particular Minister may have routinely done this, or maybe he did it due to the particular sad nature of the short marriage ?. Eitherway all thanks to him ! Just a shame whoever married them didnt ask who Thomas's father was.... not that they often did in those days to be fair. That said I'd lay bets it was another Thomas Jones !...

Wonder if the witnesses are of help to us ?:
1. Thomas Mason; possible Baptism(and not nullified by a later burial b4 1811)

Record_ID: 420490
Entry_Number:
Year: 1776
Month: Feb
Day: 11
Parents_Surname: MASON
Child_Forenames: Thomas
Fathers_Forenames: William
Mothers_Forenames: Elizabeth
Mothers_Surname:
Residence:
Occupation:
Officiating_Minister:
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference:
Page_Number:
Parish_Chapel: Monmouth
Soundex: M250

Cannot find his marriage tho', with or without Thos Jones as witness.
Similarly cannot find a probable baptism or marriage for Mary Gwillam.

Finally wrt Thomas & Judith's short marriage, I cannot find any baptisms at all.

Frances, you say that Census info would help. Well yes it would, but sadly the first official National Census of real use for family research wasn't until 1841, so no good to us here. Earlier Parish Records exist of course such as on this FoD FH website and we are so very fortunate in this respect. However with names such as Jones to search things will be difficult especially in our area ! Assuming he's say 20years old in 1800, looking for his Baptism in 1780 +/- 5 years gives at least five possibles in the Tidenham/Monmouth area, with many more equally possible in the locality. So...?...
But hopefully this helps a little.

Now over to the clever researchers (I'm just a guesser with too much freetime) to sort it out, if not disprove me altogether !

Good luck !