Marriage By Banns - More Info Needed

[soapnumpty]

My ancestors were married by banns in 1824 in Hertfordshire and I'm trying to find out a bit more about the man, such as his age and the name of his parents. As the marriage took place before civil registration in 1837 I assume there is no marriage certificate as such (is this correct?). I have a copy of the banns showing the three dates the forthcoming marriage was announced in church, and also the actual marriage entry, which don't give me any clues. Does anyone know if certificates were issued at this time, or if there is likely to be a parish record somewhere that I could look at to get a bit more information?

I've found two possible baptism records for him and need to work out which one is him.

Many thanks.

[DJHawkes]

banns were read in the parish of the bride and the groom, only once if they were from the same parish and the mariage entry will show their parish, if it says 'of this parish' you can take a guess that the groom was baptised in the same church and look for a baptism, you could go forward to the 1841/51 to see possible ages/place of birth. You could try to spot a later marriage of a sibling after July 1837 which would give you a father's name. Looking at the names of children would probably identify the grandparents first names as people recycled family names with little variation. If you can find a death after 1866 the ages were included in the index

[Peter Pedant]

I do have a family marriage entry from before 1837 but can't quite locate it.

The one from 1853, gives (1) full names, (2) 'of full age' (3) marital status before the marriage - spinster, widower etc, 4 profession 5 address
6 Father's name (Christian name, surname) and 7 father's profession

and I am certain that the entries before did not contain more information and certainly less

however if you have a church record of their marriage
what more information are you looking for ?

It boils down to there are recorded three John Pedants in Little Scrotworthy in 1820, and I dont think I am ever going to able to tell which one is my direct predecessor and which is a gt gt uncle.

[DJHawkes]

that is where family group sheets come in peter. like using a spredsheet really. you compile a family group with father mother and all known siblings then add every main event i.e. birth death and marriage and eventually you will eliminate some of your possibles. it's how a detective works out a likely suspect.

[DJHawkes]

and before July 1837 there was no general register office and so no civil registration, no regsiter office marriages, only church marriages. That is why before 1837 there is only a parish register entry and the detail varies from 1538 when they were first introduced.

[soapnumpty]

Thanks for all your answers so far. The banns entry says they are both of this parish. I've guessed at an approx birth year and searched in the parish and there are two baptisms for the same name, 1 year apart, with different parents. I'm trying to work out which one of these baptisms is for my ancestor. I wondered if there would be a more detailed entry of the marriage in the parish records showing age and parents names. I haven't been able to find one.

I've looked at the 1841 and 51 census and think i have found him but the age given does not match either of the baptisms. (I know in 1841 ages were rounded up/down to nearest 5 yrs).

I'll try the siblings route DJHawkes and see what that tells me.

Thanks.

[DJHawkes]

those aged 15 to 70 had their ages rounded down to the nearest 5 year increment on the 1841 , in most registration districts, some enumerators recorded exact ages as given.
baptisms took place usually within 6 weeks of the birth but not always. in large families, several children might be baptised at one time.
The marriage register does not contain much more information than the banns book but there may be a clue in the witnesses, onw would be a groomsman and one for the bride, usually a father.
look at the burial register for the parish to see if either of your possible baptisms died in infancy.