Marriage for Mary Ann Hardy / Thomas Watson

Im looking for the above marriage between Mary Ann Hardy / Thomas
Watson, suspected to be sometime between 1851 and 1861, most likely 1851
or 1852.

Jeff...

They might well have married in Ireland.

Long version.

I have a William Watson born in 1855. 1871 and 1881 Census says he was
born in Bradford Yorkshire. 1871 says he resides in "Vessels".

Family lore suggests part of the family came from Durham, part from
Ireland. Im figuring it's this part.

I can't find a Thomas Watson and William Watson together on the 1861
Census, but I can find a Mary Ann Watson and William Watson born about
1855 and a birth location of Bradford, matching later Censii. They're
living in Oldham with older daughter, Hannah Watson.

The 1861 Census suggest Mary Ann Watson was born about 1821 in Ireland.
I can't find an exact match in the 1851 Census, but I can find an Mary
Hardy born 1821 in Dublin Ireland working as a Servant in Liverpool.

Im guessing that this is my Mary Ann Hardy and that Mary Ann Hardy and
Thomas Watson must have married sometime between 1851 and 1861 but I
cannot find a record on FreeBMD.

Anne Chambers...

You can check the GRO indexes for yourself at

You do have to register (no credit card required) but it's free.

BTW, the plural of 'census' is 'censuses' ;)

nowhere...

Indeed it is.
If anyone is wondering why the plural of cactus is cacti, but the
plural of census and crocus are censuses and crocuses, it depends on
the origin of the word.

If the word comes from Latin, the plural is formed by adding "es".
If the word comes from Greek, the plural replaces "us" wit "i".

You can find out the origin of the word by looking in any dictionary,
including the online ones.

____
Chimaera

Simon Dean...

Yeah, already had a look through those. Had a look again to make sure I
wasn't missing anything. No joy. At least, not for 1851 to 1852. Suppose
I could try 1853 to 1856 again...

A. Gwilliam...

I'd suggest that would be the next step. And note that just because a
child was born in 1855 doesn't mean that his parents didn't get married
until some time afterwards, possibly years... or even a decade or more!

Ta
Simon

Anne
South Australia

As for how I know it's Thomas Watson and Mary Ann Watson (formerly
Hardy), I have the birth certificate for William Watson.

So as a betting man, I'd perhaps say that they weren't married, but are
there any other explanations? Any other areas I should be looking at for
this?