Why can’t I find a marriage record for my great great grandfather?

QMy great great grandfather, Robert Macfarlane, was born in Stirling, Scotland, c1836. According to census returns he was a hawker and appears to have moved around Britain, getting into trouble with the law on several occasions.

Robert’s partner/ wife was Jane Mather, originally from the Cheltenham area. The couple had several children together: Robert (1863), Elizabeth (1865), James (1868), Ruben (1870), Henry (1871), Emma (1875), Sarah Jane (1875) and my great grandmother Louisa (1876).

All the children were born in Pontypridd, Glamorganshire, with the exception of Robert, who was born in Essex. Jane died in 1879, so Robert senior left his daughters in Pontypridd Workhouse and took his sons to Swansea for work.

My question is this: where is Robert and Jane’s marriage certificate? It would identify Robert’s parents and help me to research my Scottish roots. Melanie Bowen

AFirstly, I would suggest trying the local BMD indexes for

Gloucestershire at ww3. gloucestershire.gov.uk/bmd/

SimpleSearch.aspx. The marriage index is useful in that it provides details of the parish church, which would assist you when searching the Gloucestershire parish registers on ancestry.co.uk.

It could be that Robert and Jane married after the births of their children, especially if they were moving around the country, so make sure that all locations and dates are checked. You should always try local indexes where available and cross-reference them with the centralised GRO indexes.

Be prepared that the couple may have never bothered to marry and that Jane just assumed the name Macfarlane. If this is the case, you need to think creatively in order to solve the mystery of Robert senior’s ancestry.

I would also check the children’s details again – are those years definitely correct? The GRO’s birth indexes can be searched at gro.gov.uk and will give the mother’s maiden name from 1837. Essex parish registers can be viewed online for a small fee at seax.essexcc.gov.uk while the Glamorgan records are available at findmypast.co.uk. Parish registers can often provide additional information.

What about Jane’s early life? Parish registers for Cheltenham are held on ancestry.co.uk and these may give you her parentage. I also found her in Wincanton, Somerset, on the 1861 census with a 10-month old baby.

Welsh Newspapers Online ( newspapers.library.wales) and the British Newspaper Archive (also available at findmypast.

co.uk) can be useful. Was there a case brought against Robert senior when he deserted his daughters in Pontypridd? Any court cases reported in the press will lead to further records. Glamorgan Archives has Guardian’s Minute Books from 1882 (UPP/1/5), which may have references to the girls. They are certainly worth scanning for information. Lynne Cleaver