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How long were people needing to reside 'in the Parish' before becoming 'of the Parish'? I have a 20year+ brick wall that i'm revisiting to no avail.

William Hine married Maria Welton 30 May 1805 St Stephens St Albans Hertfordshire. They went on to have 5 children between 1806-1817. Banns were read in Feb 1804 (a full 14months before the marriage in May 1805) in St Stephens with William being of the Parish ie St Stephens and Maria of the parish of Abbey St Albans.

Maria died 9 April 1828 buried Abbey parish St Albans aged 40. (c1788) William died 24 August 1834 aged 50 abode St Stephens St Albans (c1784)

My question is : I cannot find a birth record for either Maria nor William in the parishes surrounding St Albans. I believe i may have found William being the child of Nathaniel and Elinor Hine with the birth record being in Chipping Barnet but it is all supposition.

Maria has me totally stumped. I have her down as Welton on marriage but Wilton on Banns. She has X for her mark so obviously illiterate and reliant on curate to spell her name. I have searched Hertfordshire St albans area parishes for Wilton/Welton/Walton/Weldon/Welldon/Wallon and Walten family names to see if there are families in the vicinity that may tie her to the parish and identify her parents to no avail. Could she have moved to St Albans and resided a number of years before becoming 'of the parish' ??
It seem such a shame that i have not been able to progress with her lineage from her marriage date of 1805. Even broadening the search area there seems to be no 'obvious' birth for a Maria Welton bn c 1788

I have even researched her witnesses to no avail. Richard Sprigings and Hannah Oakley. Richard seems to be profilic in signing as a witness on may marriages in St Stephens. Bn 5 June 1757 St Michaels St Albans - Married Ann Peirce 18 May 1786 St Stephens and died 25 April 1813 St Michaels St Albans. Hannah Oakley died 1838. No link to William nor Maria found.

Can anyone point me in a different direction to search either laterally or directly ?

Jacky Ward
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    Hi, welcome to G&FH.SE! Can you tell us a little more about where and how you have searched the records you've looked at so far? Did you search indexes, browse images, consult the images at the local record office? Have you found the banns in both parishes and compared the records? – Jan Murphy Aug 19 '23 at 17:45
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    I have always interpreted the phrase "of the parish" as simply meaning resident there at that moment in time. I have a number of such residencies in my lot where it is clear that the person can only have been there for weeks, usually because they live elsewhere before and after - I suspect those simply wanted to marry with minimal fuss. – AdrianB38 Aug 20 '23 at 08:43
  • Thanks for replying. That's the problem though - I can't seem to see where they may have come from before. They do seem to have settled in the St Stephens St Albans Herts parish as their children were registered there and their deaths also. – Jacky Ward Aug 24 '23 at 17:58
  • Thanks for the welcome to the site. I visited the Hertfordshire Archive Library in Hertford to find the Banns that were read in 1804 in St Stephens St Albans church but at the time didn't know that they were read in both parishes so didn't check Abbey where Maria is said to have resided. I have since checked online Ancestry to no avail going back to 1801. I'm taking it as read that she came from the Abbey parish as it states so on both Banns and Marriage records - maybe she wasn't from there and i need to check surrounding parishes? I've also checked settlement and removal order records – Jacky Ward Aug 24 '23 at 18:28
  • If Maria was only 16 years old when banns were read, and 17 at marriage, it is possible that she was indentured in the parish by the overseers of the poor, or that she was from away and moved to the parish for domestic work. Do you know what William's occupation was? Could it be that they met by working in the same household? Could Hannah Oakley have also worked there? All speculation, but at this point you need to branch out using FAN club (friends, acquaintances, neighbors) research. Check indentureship records, estate records, even bastardy bonds. – user5836 Aug 29 '23 at 18:27
  • Thank you! I’ve been trying to branch out with no much success tbh. Will follow your advice and look specifically for them in records you’ve mentioned. Appreciate the guidance - it’s going to be interested looking at records I’ve never researched before – Jacky Ward Aug 31 '23 at 19:03

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