Dennis Miller wrote to me to tell me that I had made a mistake with the marriage of his great-grandparents John Joseph Marney and Ellen Fitzhenry.
I had recorded that they were marrried on 20th December, when actually they wed on the 25th December 1897.
Dennis commented that this was the sixth Christmas wedding in his tree. I have 3 couples in my database who were married on Christmas day - my great-great-great grandparents Michael Fitz-Henry and Sarah Phillips in 1839, Edward Clement and Mary Fitzhenry in 1862 (from Lesley Champion's family tree) and the Marney/Fitzhenry marriage as metioned above.
I'm sure that I read somewhere that weddings and baptisms were done free of charge on Christmas day which was why it was such a popular date amongst the working classes. The couple were also likely to have one of their rare days off work together on this date.
From previous trawls through parish registers, I imagine the churches must have been busy places on Christmas day!
Why not subscribe to this blog and get the updates sent to your inbox? Or send us an email about your Fitz(-)henry family links.
No comments:
Post a Comment