What would have been the criteria for 'sealing' a marriage in 1890
I recently unexpectedly discovered on Family Search recorded that in 1890 a relative, George Ferris Parratt (1813 – 1896) Index # KWJ4 - S9F had been ‘sealed’ to a Maria Fry (1813 – 1833) Index # KHXR-YQ7. There is only one reference to this from writings of the late Virginia McBride (Index Ref. KSMC-QM5) stating that nothing was known about her! I have carried extensive research and have not found anything to support Maria’s existence, and furthermore church marriage records in Swainswick, Bath, confirm that George was a bachelor when he married Ann Buck (KWJW – 15Q) in 1836.
What would have been the grounds for a sealing to take place in 1890, and are church records accessible to check this?
Respuestas
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Around that same time period, a lot of women were sealed to my husband's grandfather. After doing more digging, we found that he and his wife did the sealings themselves. With good intentions, but without a full understanding, they found female ancestors who had never been married and sealed them to him. All is well, though ... those sealings will not be valid if the Lord and the women involved do not accept them.
Anyway, something similar could be what happened in your case.
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Hello Carol, - many thanks for your very informative and helpful reply. Your description of your own research experience certainly adds an interesting perspective on patterns of behaviour at that time! I’m not sure about the logic or particular religious factors in all this, although it may have had some bearing on the pattern of plural marriages, and from my own research, which had described the fight against polygamy being particularly critical at that time, which had resulted in one of my relatives going to live separately from the ‘family’ home in 1889 after 23 years of plural marriage. It must have been a time of difficulty and conflict in managing these changes and consequent uncertainty and the effects on relationships and family.
My particular difficulty is in relation to the very existence of Maria Fry, and where Family Search might have obtained the detail of her and of being born in Bath 1813 and died in Bath in 1833. I have trawled all Bath Records for the period 1800 – 1836, and found just one entry of a Maria Fry being baptised 27 August 1809, - with no other baptisms, marriages or burials for that period. In addition of course, it would seem that none of the extended family members who left Bath for Utah in 1864 knew anything of her. George Ferris Parratt also at the time of the sealing was 77yrs and described as frail and blind.
Perhaps I will never know! 😊
Thanks again
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