Sojourners in Poole

[Phoenix]

Ann Shepherd married firstly James Moore, sojourner, in Poole in 1775

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/2243/images/32435_239649-00030?pId=4652424


and secondly, on 20 December 1788, Henry Bush, sojourner, also in Poole


https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/2243/images/32435_239649-00137?pId=4654422


Her daughter Ann Bush was baptised later the same day


The fact that most of the marriages involved sojourners, there were large numbers of witnesses, and there seems no problem in accepting Ann junior as legitimate, suggests that it was accepted that many men did not actually have time to get the banns called before they set sail, though fully intending to marry on their return (and what an anxious time it must have been for the prospective, pregnant brides)


I assume that both James and Henry probably died either at sea, or in Newfoundland, the destination of choice from Poole.


And I suspect it is too early to find any records in Canada, but does anyone know about such things?

[Olde Crone]

I have a branch in a small village, inland, which mentions sojourners a lot and my take on that is the distinction that these people do not have rights of settlement. I think the fact that your sojourners were sailors is probably just coincidence, the sojourner bit being more relevant than the sailor bit! (My sojourner were mostly soldiers).

OC

[kiterunner]

The bride's name is Susanna, not Ann, on both of those marriages.

[Phoenix]

You are right in principle OC and I wouldn't normally make assumptions about a man's calling but it's the fact that all the men in December 1788 are sojourners or mariners and they all have at least four witnesses that suggests them rushing to formalise relationships.