Marriages at Churchdown around 1800 (General)

by Nick Dub , Sunday, June 12, 2022, 10:58 (684 days ago)

I believe I am descended on my mother's side from a whole raft of Worgans who lived in the Newland, Hewelsfield and St Briavels areas.

Specifically, in a family tree I was given I have a John Worgan born 9 May 1779 in Hewelsfield who marries a Sarah Jordan. A John Worgan with a wife Sarah turns up in later baptisms and on the 1841 census. So far so good - there are also births for Sarah Jordan(s) in English Bicknor in the same period.

The problem is that the marriage record on the tree is for :- "John Worgan and Sarah Jordan married 2 Mar 1802 Churchdown" which is recorded in the BT's for Churchdown, but there is no obvious reason why a couple would go from the other side of Coleford to Churchdown to get married.

The only explanation I can think of is that they were non-conformists and wanted to make sure their marriage was legal - non-conformist marriages being legally questionable at this time.

Other explanations include an unrecorded or lost marriage - or a marriage of John Worgan to a different Sarah - i.e. not Jordan.

If anyone has any other ideas and/or knowledge of non-conformist marriages in Churchdown at the time, I'd love to find out more.