Source check for Stedeford marriage please

[Uncle John]

I've found a marriage that I think is mine but both FreeBMD and Ancestry FreeeBMD have the page number wrong. Can someone please check an alternative transcription.

John STEDIFORD and Mary Ann LEAKER q4 1854, Barnstaple vol 5b page 819.

FreeBMD has John on page 879 and there is a groom missing on page 819.

BTW John's surname everywhere else is spelt STEDEFORD.

I can't find the couple together anywhere in the census. I can't see them in 1861 at all, and in 1871 John is with his children William and John in Bristol, shown as married. Mary Ann died in 1879 and John is shown as a widower in 1881 onwards.

I have plumped for this marriage because John was born in Yarnscombe and the children in Atherington, both within a few miles of Barnstaple. A daughter Elizabeth Ann was born in Bristol about 1861.

[kiterunner]

The surname does look like Stedeford on the image and the page number is 877.

Mary Ann's page number is 819, so she didn't marry John Stedeford.

[kiterunner]

There are possible deaths for John in Mar 1855 and Sep 1861, but of course the death indexes don't give age for those dates. If he died in 1855 then he wouldn't be on the 1861 census, though it seems unlikely to be his death so soon after the marriage.

[kiterunner]

Oh sorry, I thought you couldn't find John on the censuses. Now I see it's just his wife you couldn't find, so ignore the possible deaths!

So this is the family you have found in 1871 (transcribed as Sedeford on ancestry):
8 William St., St Philip and St Jacob, Bristol
John Stedeford Head Mar 36 Shoemaker Devonshire Yarncombe
William Do Son 14 Do Do Atherington
John do Do 12 Parcel Office Railway Do Do

[kiterunner]

And they are also in Bristol in 1861, and John's wife is Honor (transcribed as Homer on ancestry!) Now, I seem to remember seeing an Honour with page number 877 on those marriages...

Wellsley Street, St Philip and St Jacob, Bristol
William Stedford Head Mar 29 Tailor Yarnscomb Devon
Mary Ann Do Wife Mar 31 SandKey do
John Britton Do Son 3 St Philip Bristol
Eliza Ann Do Daur 2 Do Do
William James Do Son 1 Do Do
---
John Steadford Head Mar 26 Cordwainer Yarnscomb Devon
Honor Do Wife Mar 25 Atherington Do
Sarah Ann Do Daur 6 Do Do
William Do Son 4 Do Do
John Do Son 2 Do Do

[kiterunner]

Yes, Honour Tucker is the name on the marriage page.

Death of Honor Stedeford Sep 1871 Clifton district, age 36.

On the 1871 census Honor is visiting her parents William and Grace Tucker in Atherington, with Elizabeth age 10. At least they got to see Honor again before she died.

[Uncle John]

Well done and thanks for your detective work. I could never haver have worked it out.

It's a fairly remote link (married-in family of my great-grandfather's second wife). But interesting because two of the Stedefords were major names in one of the branches of the Methodist Church.

EDIT: looking at the marriage of Honour Tucker on Ancestry, there's only her plus one groom Thomas Brend. So as well as John Stedeford there's another bride missing as well. The FreeBMD transcriber must have had a bit of a struggle with that page.

[kiterunner]

FreeBMD transcribers work from the index pages so it won't be the same transcriber who did each of the names. Probably the quality of scan for that quarter wasn't very good although FreeBMD have been getting better quality replacement scans recently, so it could be that the entries will be redone at some point.

[Uncle John]

I put in a correction for what I thought was the correct match. Hopefully that will trigger a more detailed look.