A conundrum!

[Janet in Yorkshire]

John Turner (a farmer) married Elizabeth Larcum at Huggate, East Yorkshire, in 1791 and they had 8 known children. Their daughter Mary was bp at Huggate 2 April 1797.

Huggate PR records a marriage after banns 22 July 1817 between Henry BOWSER and Mary Turner, "with consent of those whose consent is required." Henry was a servant, Mary a mantua maker and both were of this parish. The witnesses were Edward Pape and Elizabeth Turner - Elizabeth could have been a younger sister of Mary, or her mother. The marriage was conducted by John Wilkinson the then curate for the parish.

I have also found a slightly earlier marriage in the marriage register of one of the churches in YORK; 25 May 1817,by banns and "with the consent of those required." Both bride (Mary Turner) & groom (Henry BURTON) were otp, no occupations were given. The marriage was conducted by the curate John Collier and the witnesses were John Robinson and Elizabeth Larcum, which was the maiden name of Mary Turner's mother. "Elizabeth" marked. The distance from Huggate to York is over 20 miles.

Huggate PR records the bps of three Burton children - Robert Turner Burton bp 16 Oct 1817, Elizabeth Burton 1819 and John Burton 1821 - parents of all three were Henry and Mary.

Henry and Mary Burton were at Huggate in 1841;in 1847 Henry "committed suicide by suspending himself in the cow house on Sunday morning." Mary moved to the next village to keep house for one of her older unmarried brothers and was recorded in his household in 1851 and 1861. The brother was recorded with a younger unmarried brother in 1871, so perhaps Mary died in the 1860's - I'm still chasing up her death/burial.

So, one couple or two? If two, can anyone find the "Bowser" couple after the marriage? Thanks for reading. I'm in such a muddle over this, that I keep on confusing all the forenames!

[Janet in Yorkshire]

I have now found the GRO death ref for Mary Burton (nee Turner) and also her burial at Huggate on March 1868. She was "of Wetwang," the village where she had lived with her brother.
I've also traced all three of her children until their deaths.

However, I'm no nearer sorting out the two marriages; my gut instinct is that they were both for the same couple, but I cannot come up with anything to either prove or disprove my theory. And, if they were for the same bride and groom, WHY?? Going by the bp date of Robert Turner Burton, it seems very likely that Mary Turner was already pregnant when she married Henry Burton, but there's nothing very unusual about that!

If the marriages were for DIFFERENT couples, then what became of Henry and Mary Bowser??? (Bowser was quite a common name amongst some of the farming communities in that area.)

[kylejustin]

My first thought is have you seen the images for both marriages or just transcripts?

Second thought is it's the same couple, and perhaps there was a reason to marry earlier and then again in their hometown?

[Lin Fisher]

Janet, I can see exactly the same as you but have no idea about the marriages except they are both there.

Have you seen that Mary left a will in 1868, actually an administration . Executor is her son John Burton, an Innkeeper. She died 16 March 1868 at Wetwang.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Thank you for your interest Kyle.
I've seen both images and the names of all parties, at both marriages, are as I've posted. As was quite common in 1817, the entries look to have been completed by the clergyman.

The first marriage was in the away parish, in the city of York - Henry and Mary were definitely a couple and had three children together. I don't know where Henry was born - the only census he was recorded in was 1841 and the entry just states he was born in Yorkshire, which isn't of any help! One of the witnesses was Elizabeth Larcum, who could have been a relative of the bride, only I can't find any PR events or any other evidence of her existence.

If the groom's surname at the 2nd marriage at Huggate has also been Burton, I would be laughing! The writing is VERY clear and it is definitely BOWSER. I can find no other Mary Turner with a connection with Huggate to have been the bride in the Huggate marriage, nor were there any spare Elizabeth Turners around to have been a witness, apart from the mother and sister of Mary, who married Henry Burton. I did wonder about an error on the part of the curate, but I don't think Bowser and Burton sound especially similar, and if the parties involved couldn't read or write, then they wouldn't know about an error. I don't think marriage certificates were issued before 1837, so they wouldn't have had a copy to examine anyway.

If I could just spot some evidence to show that the parties in both marriages really did exist then I would be able to draw a line under it. I'm sure there is a very simple answer to the puzzle, but I can't see the wood for trees!

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Thank you Lin. I hadn't got as far as looking for probate for Mary. I'll go and do that now and also gather up any for her three unmarried brothers.
Mary's son Robert took a pub at Wainfleet near Hull, then later John ran the inn at Huggate. He and his wife were childless and, after he died, his nephew became the innkeeper for some years, before the family moved away. Both dabbled in farming too.

[teasie]

Hmmm, I'd say its the same couple, or at the least the same bride. The 'consent' thing is written on all of the marriages on the page, for both the Huggate and the York marriages, so I wouldn't place too much importance on that.

Mary's signature is very similar on both, especially her surname. Henry's not so much though.

Oddly there is a baptism at Huggate on 11 Jun 1821 of a Henry Stevenson Bowser s/o Henry Bowser & Elizabeth Stevenson, who would appear not to be married to each other. Coincidentally, the bride whose marriage is immediately before Henry Bowser & Mary Turner in the Huggate register is Elizabeth Stephenson

[Janet in Yorkshire]

teasie, thank you for your very interesting suggestion. I'd got so focused that I'd developed tunnel vision and the notion that there might have been two weddings, two grooms but only one bride had never even entered my head! Probably because all my bigamous and prohibited marriages (that's the ones that I know about!) were civil registrations, but obviously post 1837 - it's just dawned on me the significance of the dates (1817) when there was no alternative to a church ceremony. No wonder I couldn't find Henry and Mary Bowser living happily ever after. I think you have pointed me in the right direction. I will have to do a bit more digging into the Stevenson name and perhaps also see if there might be anything relevant at the local archives.