Norfolk marriage index

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Am I right in thinking that there is a Norfolk marriage index? If
so would sks mind looking a couple of marriages up for me please?
I am looking for John Drake & Ellen Barrett, Thomas Drake & Ellen ? & Thomas Drake to anyone. These would all be in the Rockland St Peter area, in the 1790's.
Any help gratefully appreciated. :)

[marquette]

Are you thinking of the Norfolk Transcription Archive ?

http://www.doun.org/transcriptions/index.php

It does not seem to cover the Rockland area.

Its a great pity that this site does not seem to have been updated since 2003, or its companion site - http://www.ukgenscribe.org/. For Yarmouth and Norwich they have been very helpful with my Brazell family

Di

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Thanks Di, but I don't think that is what I meant. I think there are some cds of Norfolk marriages, as I am sure someone did a look up for me once & found details.

[kiterunner]

FreeREG has a Thomas Drake marrying Rebecca Dexter at Rockland All Saints, 24 Dec 1799, witnesses John Towler and Edmund Peel, if that's any help.

[Oakum Picker]

There is a CD for the whole county but it doesn't start until 1800/1 or there are the Phillimore CDs which cover some parishes. I have the latter but not the former; don't quite know where to lay my hands on them at the moment but I'll look them out tomorrow & see if there is anything relevant.
The NRO does lookups from the other CD & they may not charge if it is a first request.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Thanks Kate, sadly that is not the Thomas I was looking for.
Thanks Glen that was obiously the cd I meant, but I was hoping that it started earlier. :(, looks like trawling through the prs is the only way :)

[kiterunner]

If I were you I would have a look at FreeREG first to see which parishes they have already done - click on the "Counties and Parishes" button on their home page.

[WendyPusey]

I have the Norfolk Marriage Index CD, but as Glen has already said, it only covers 1800 to 1837.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Thanks Kate.
Thanks Wendy, I had an idea that you had the cds I was thinking of. :)

[Sunny Kate]

Lynn,
Family Search has some Norfolk parishes recently added and it looks like there are some for Rocklands St Peter.
It's a lttle slow going with the images but you might be lucky.

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=allCollections;r=1

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Thanks Kate. I have been looking through the images but hadn't found what I was looking for. I was hoping that the marriages might have been indexed, so make the job slightly easier. :)

[kiterunner]

But like I said, FreeREG has already transcribed all the Rockland St Peter marriages, so the marriages you are looking for weren't at Rockland St Peter unless they have missed them or mistranscribed them.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

I have started looking in other parishes as well.
I forgot to mention this morning, that in the course of a related question elsewhere, I now believe that John Drake & Ellen were married in Scarning, although I might have got Ellen's maiden name as Barrett wrong .
Thomas Drake married again in 1809 as a widower & I am trying to find out who his first wife was.

[kiterunner]

Hmm, one of the witnesses at your Thomas's wedding in 1809 was also a witness at the other Thomas Drake's wedding in 1799, or someone of the same name was (John Towler). Although the two weddings were at different churches.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Interesting! I don't think that the Thomas who married Rebecca is the same person as the Thomas who remarried in 1809, because both Thomas' had a child baptised that year 1 in March & twins in May.

[Oakum Picker]

I've found the Phillimore CD but none of the parishes you named are on there.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Thanks for looking Glen. That always seems to be the way with the Philimore ones, the LIncs ones I want are never covered either! :)

[kiterunner]

Interesting! I don't think that the Thomas who married Rebecca is the same person as the Thomas who remarried in 1809, because both Thomas' had a child baptised that year 1 in March & twins in May.

It could be possible, but does make it unlikely. Looking at the marriage entries, both Thomases marked with an X.

[kiterunner]

Also, Thomas and Rebecca don't seem to have had any more children after the 1809 one, but Thomas and Mary had a daughter baptised Rebecca in 1814. :confused:

[maggie_4_7]

Hmm, one of the witnesses at your Thomas's wedding in 1809 was also a witness at the other Thomas Drake's wedding in 1799, or someone of the same name was (John Towler). Although the two weddings were at different churches.

I don't know why but I have a lot of marriages in Norfolk where the witnesses seem to be the same people but if you look at other marriages at the same church around the same time they are their witnesses too! Never checked other churches in the same vicinity.

I came to the conclusion that they were professional witnesses on hand for a quick marriage where family were either not invited, expected or wanted or the marriage was being held a little time after what would be expected considering their child was 3 months old, 8 months into conception or even in some cases a few children standing in the aisle!

Edit to say: the only reason I realised this was because I had originally in my naivety thought they were either family or friends but having investigated more realised that they seemed to be everyone's friend... :)

[kiterunner]

Oh yes, I've come across a lot of serial witnesses, often the parish clerk, but this one was a witness at weddings at two different churches. It would be easy enough to look through to see if he was a witness at lots of marriages but I'd have to wait till I'm on the other computer.

[maggie_4_7]

Oh yes, I've come across a lot of serial witnesses, often the parish clerk, but this one was a witness at weddings at two different churches. It would be easy enough to look through to see if he was a witness at lots of marriages but I'd have to wait till I'm on the other computer.

Having said they were at the same church about the same time two marriages were about five years apart which is why I thought they must be very close friends or relatives but they weren't.

At that time I was used to witnesses being dragged off the street - two of my friends had done this at their register office marriages in the 1970s but I suppose this is a Norfolk Village in the 18th century local vicar needed a witness or two I expect it would be up to him to get them in especially if he was adamant that the marriage should happen.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Also, Thomas and Rebecca don't seem to have had any more children after the 1809 one, but Thomas and Mary had a daughter baptised Rebecca in 1814. :confused:

I seem to have missed that one, although they do keep having chidren, upto 1824 & then another possibly in 1841 :eek:
I have found the death for Thomas who married mary, but not of the other Thomas or Rebecca

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

From 1796 - 1809, John Towler witnessed 3 marriages at Rockland St Peters & 4 at All Saints, so may well have been a church warden.