re "full age" on marriage certificates. (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Wednesday, July 24, 2013, 16:27 (4134 days ago) @ m p griffiths

Hi and a belated welcome to this great forum & website,
Unlike many on this forum including MPG Im a relative newbie to FH research having only been involved a few years, but from my readings I've always understood "full age" to mean 21 years or above, and that applies back to 1800 or so.
Thankfully it seems others share this view, this first link makes good reading as it distinguishes between "full age" and the altogether different legal marriage age and so on. Indeed I've seen an example of a bride claiming to be of "full age" when actually only 16, so..??

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=199256.0
http://www.ancestryaid.co.uk/boards/genealogy-coffee-room/18372-full-age-18-21-a.html

With regard to the subject of trying to predict a marriage by locality, I think thats a very difficult job. To me all your options look "possible", altho I'm very happy for others to correct me. Yes on the face of it Awre appears some way from Penalt/Goodrich etc, however in those days before decent roads the main highways were the rivers, and the Wye in the Goodrich area was extremely busy carrying goods and people every day particularly downstream to Monmouth and beyond. It's entirely conceivable that someone from "your" part of Wyeside could meet someone from Severnside villages such as Awre, especially of course if there are "watermen" in the family. Many residents of Wyeside villages crossed the river regularly, for example in the early days say late 1700s before the population really "exploded" there was no church at nearby Lydbrook itself, so for that area we look at the PRs of churches such as nearby Bicknor, Walford, Ruardean & Newland. Indeed some Lydbrook folk crossed the Wye every Sunday to attend the nearest church which was at Welsh Bicknor, Lydbrook's own Church wasn't "opened" until 1851. Then, as now, it seemed common for brides to marry within their home parish, but that doesnt mean they lived there afterwards. I don't think it was that rare for men to travel, often by foot, say four or five few miles every day to and from their workplace.

Hope this helps, good luck with your continued researches, Jeff