Forebears of Thomas James - at Joyford in 1841 census. (General)

by pojames , Wednesday, July 24, 2013, 14:22 (4135 days ago) @ m p griffiths

You ask, "Did Thos James marry Sarah" ?

I confess I'd bypassed that one in favour of trying to find out Thos's parents. interestingly there are several candidates for their marriage.

1. Thomas James = Sarah Jones - Apr.7th 1825. Groom's residence 'Forest of Dean', bride resident of, and marriage conducted at Awre.

2. Thomas James = Sarah Davies - Jan 24th 1830. Bride's / groom's residence Penallt, wedding at Monmouth.

3. Thomas James = Sarah Jeynes - Oct 15th 1825. Both residents of St Briavel's, wedding at Goodrich Chapel.

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1. Awre seems a long way out of the main FOD area, (specifically from Joyford, where the couple were living in 1841 (though Thomas seems to be vaguely described as resident there - perhaps the officiant hadn't heard of / couldn't spell the place he came from.)

2 / 3 Both involved marriage to a widow. Since acc. to the 1841 census Sarah is 5 yrs older than Thomas, marriage to a widow is an attractive possibility (or might have been to Thomas !). Penallt (2) is of course west of the river, and I don't know how much traffic there would have been across the river at that time ? In which case No.3 would be my favourite, I think.

Holding the ceremony at Goodrich is perhaps surprising, though if she was a widow (and especially if there had been local tittle-tattle about her relationship with Thomas !) maybe the local minister had refused to give them a chapel wedding, and they had to go further afield ? Interesting that neither of the witnesses are immediate family.

Can't see any other candidates.

For Sarah's first marriage, a possibility might be an 1813 marriage at Walford (near Goodrich, which is a plus) when a Sarah White married Thomas Jeynes. She is described as 'of full age', which might be pushing it a bit since she's down as 53 in 1851 - she would then have been 15 in 1813! But was 15 'full age' then ? On the other hand, maybe either she got married a little prematurely (shotgun ??) or knocked a couple of years off her age when filling in the census return in 1851 (where she is down as 7 years older than Thos.) If first married in 1813, a re-marriage in 1825 would be feasible. (No Jeynes burial records round that time, but a 'Jaynes' in 1816 at Aston Ingham, well up to the north. Poss. alternative spelling ?)

'2' begs the question as to how much traffic there was then across the Wye (except obviously via Monmouth.) Has that been discussed anywhere ?

Indeed, how far were ordinary working FOD residents likely to travel in the course of work / business ? I.e how unlikely is Awre as a possibility in this case ?

And what was 'full age' for marriage in the early 19thC ?

Grateful for any pointers !