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I am desperate for a look up!! Latitia Cornwell was baptized 12 April 1818 in Creat Clacton, daughter of Joseph Cornwell, sailor, and his wife Ann. I have a dead end here unless I can find Joseph & Ann's wedding. Latitia (various spellings) went on to have 10 children with Thomas Phillips Williams - all born Tenby starting with Howell in 1835. All evidence points to the family being very respectable but no sign of a marriage - any ideas?

Thanks in hope

Peter in Auckland NZ

where have you looked??????????


Just to save us duplicating searches you have already carried out.


for example,

have you looked on www.familysearch.org?

Maybe they didn't marry in Essex
Name: Joseph Cornwell
Gender: Male
Marriage Date: 5 Jul 1814
Marriage Place: St. Lawrence, Kent, England
Spouse: Ann Worten
FHL Film Number: 1850281
Reference ID: p20 #58

Thanks - Sylvia, I have tried family search, ancestry, find my past etc. Can't find anything in Welsh or English archives. Just about at my wits end.

Jax - interesting thought, I wonder what his occupation was at marriage. St Lawrence looks close enough to the sea to be a possible....but how to prove it!!

Peter

One of my ancestors came from Gloucestershire she apparently married a sailor... Never found the marriage... Had a child in Liverpool, the child was then baptised in London, sailor no where to be found as she was now with a different partner

Occupation wasn't normally mentioned on marriages back then

Found image on fmp will send it to by pm....just in case it's any good

The church was in Thanet Kent

Image shows Ann Worten as a widow. I suspect that she was widow of Nathanial Worten who died 1811 as there is a marriage of a Nat Worten to Ann Revell in 1805 , possibly the ann bap 25 12 1787 in Margate to Stephen and Jane. Which doesn't really help as none of the names are passed down through Latitia's family.

Peter

Checked Great Clacton marriages 1813 to 1818 but nothing there.

Was Latitia the first born?

Chris

Thanks Chris. I have no idea if she was the first born. I have her name from her childrens' baptisms. "Joseph Cornwell" is used extensively as forenames for subsequent generations. I have seen a picture of her sewing box, with carving on the lid which reads "Aletissa Cornwell 18 Mar 1818 my b.day" This fits perfectly with her baptism on 12 April in the same year. Eldest son Howell was bap 18 Sep 1835 in Tenby. Her husband was 20 years older than her. He died intestate in 1861 and probate was granted to Letitia "his lawful wife". I cannot find a marriage for her. As you can see, without a couple more jigsaw pieces I am stuck!!

At least you have eliminated a Cacton marriage for her parents..

Peter

Just in case you weren't aware, even if you could find a suitable marriage for Joseph and Ann, it won't show many details.

It will give you the names of which parishes they resided,
When they married
Their status ie Bachelor, Spinster etc
Name of the minister
Signatures of two witnesses.
If it says 'with consent of parents' at least one could have been a minor.

What it won't tell you are their parents names, or give any occupations.
The names of the fathers wasn't required until civil registration (in England and Wales) started in 1837.

Earlier marriage records could have even fewer details - just the name and date!

I sent Peter the image of the Kent marriage..... I have seen an occupation on a few occasions on pre 1837 marriages....But no it's not the norm

Just some thoughts on the Letitia Cornwell/Thomas Phillips Williams relationship. Previous posts indicate that she was a sailor's daughter. However Thomas comes from a respectable upper middle class family, his father Howell was originally a shipwright, became an officer of Customs, an aldereman of Tenby and was chief magistrate of Tenby on his death in 1836. Is it likely that the son aged 37 would marry a sixteen/seventeen year old sailors daughter? But it seems he did, and the marriage endured - in the 1860's photos show her to be a very respectable married woman (widow). Would the marriage have been in some distant place to avoid local gossip? Was her father more than a "sailor'? other branches of the Williams family. were into shipping with steamers up the Ganges and residences in Calcutta......Yet more of his relatives were Ministers of Religion, certainly in the past. Could a marriage have been performed without it being entered into a parish register - on a ship perhaps? I have no clues.......Thomas is described in the census as a grocer but his probate calls him a gentleman........perhaps more into the grocery trade than a corner dairy. His sons went to boarding school in England so no shortage of money at that time.....so why, when and where did he marry a girl 20 years younger than him???

Peter