Love and Marriage
It’s that time of year when thoughts turn to love and romance. The shops (those that are open) are full of hearts and cards professing true love and there are the usual ‘romantic’ gifts available – yes it’s Valentine’s Day. Marriages are one of those key vital pieces of the family history jigsaw and help the family historian to expand the branches of their ever growing family tree. It is hoped that our ancestors all married for love and that every wedding was a happy and joyous event shared by family and friends alike but this was not always the case. My Grandparents' Wedding 1935 Looking back over the registers and certificates a pattern begins to emerge as to when and why couples got married. A number of mine and my wife’s ancestors married at Easter or at Christmas, either on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. When you look at the records you start to see that they were either in service or in occupations which meant that they got very little time off so had to take advantage when the...