Marrying at Gloucester Cathedral (General)

by Bradley Tingle, Thursday, February 22, 2024, 18:48 (306 days ago) @ slowhands

Thanks for your responses to my question about trying to understand why an ordinary couple from the FOD would marry by licence at Gloucester Cathedral in January 1737/38 when the licence said that they could also marry at Newland where the bride resided. It seems that the bride was not pregnant and they were both of legal age to marry.

The Goldsmith Bondsman -
If I search the Gloucestershire Archives catalogue for the two words Jason Goldsmith 1700-1800 it comes up with three hits that all show Marriage licence allegations for the year 1738 only - that in itself is interesting:
(1) Richard Kear, of Lye, blacksmith bound in the some of 500GBP;
(2) Thomas Tanty of Rodborough, clothier for 200 GBP and
(3) James Tingle of Little Dean for 500 GBP. Interesting that it doesn’t give James Tingle’s occupation, but it does for the other two.

Would the Goldsmith be something like modern day notaries and he charged a fee to be bound as a guarantor that each of the brides and grooms were free to marry? I am amazed at the amount of the bonds. Why so high? Was there prejudice against those who lived in the FOD?

FOD to Scranton, PA connection:
My ancestor, George Matthew Tingle left the FOD are for Scranton, PA in 1870. It was pretty unsettling to be a coalminer in Scranton in 1875 so he left to join extended family in Ontario, Canada in 1875. By the 1890s he was homesteading in Manitoba and by 1912 his son, my grandfather, was living in Vancouver, BC. I am retired and live on Vancouver Island, BC.

The connection with the foundry business Tingles –
We don’t have a modern day connection to that Tingle family but perhaps we did a very long time ago. Our Tingles lived at Littledean Hill which, I think, was in the same general area as Bilson. Thanks for the hint that Joseph Tingle, iron founder, Bilson Woodside and Miners’ Arms, Isaac Tingle, Bilson Woodside were in 1868 directory. I remember walking around Cinderford years ago and finding what we Canadians call “man hole” covers with the name Tingle on them.

For the locals, you live in a beautiful part of England. I love to visit but I think I'm too old now to be able to do it again.

Thanks everyone for your interest in helping a Canadian with great grandparents+ from the FOD. They married into other families with other FOD surnames: Morgan, Bradley, Packer, Cook, Price, Phillips, Wills/Wiltz to name a few.

The time has come that I must write up my research hence I am writing our Tingle story and will self publish. It is based on genealogy but also includes my local history research with an effort to describe where they lived, how they lived and honour them. I have no illusions that they were more than freeminers who encroached on the FOD and, as a result, ended up with homes of their own. Hard working, ordinary people, just like their descendants. Is there a local place that might be interested in a copy of the family history?

Donna Fraser