The law changed in 1823, though I'm not sure if this would have made a difference. Someone who attended Professor Probert's talk last month might remember.
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I didn't find any other Wedge entries in the Southampton area between 1740-1780, which is what made this burial stand out. There are a lot at St Mary Bourne, but that's much further away from Portsea.
Bearing in mind that none of us has been able to find Josiah's first marriage how can you be certain that Ann wasn't his first wife?
I would suggest looking the baptism of an Ann* W*dge, or the marriage of an Ann* to someone called W*dge. If neither of those can be found there is at least a possibility that she was Josiah's first wife.
Since there were two James Levingstons, father and son, and we don't know which one died, it doesn't make a lot of difference at this point.
Incidentally, if Ann was Josiah's first wife, she died before James Levingston, so there is at least a possibility that he signed a form before his death. In any case, I doubt he attended when the licence was issued since he wasn't a witness at the wedding, which (most unusually) was the same day.
Pauline
LostCousins Megastar
The law did change then, and as I understand it, a marriage by licence after that without the proper consent was no longer void.
I think, though, with the issuing of marriage licences, we need to keep in mind the difference between the letter of the law and the practice of it.
True, but why marry by licence unless there is some advantage in doing so? Someone under-age with no parent or guardian could marry by banns knowing that nobody could object.
Pauline
LostCousins Megastar
Snobbery? Non-conformists sometimes preferred it too.
That's the point I was making - there would have to be some actual or perceived advantage in marrying by licence. The challenge is to figure out what it was.
Rumney is almost certainly a family surname. It could be the maiden name of Josiah's first wife, or it could be the maiden name of a mother or grandmother. Even with spelling variations it isn't a particularly common surname in Hampshire.
Pauline
LostCousins Megastar
Or, running with possibility that Sarah was mother of all Josiah’s children baptised in Portsea, we could perhaps have the son James Livingstone named after Sarah’s father, and Elizabeth Rumney after her mother. An Elizabeth Levingstone was buried in Portsea in 1787.
However, I have so far got absolutely nowhere trying to find a Rumney - Levingstone marriage, despite using variants, and likewise, nowhere with a baptism for Sarah daughter of James.
However, I have so far got absolutely nowhere trying to find a Rumney - Levingstone marriage, despite using variants, and likewise, nowhere with a baptism for Sarah daughter of James.
Sorry, I didn't mean to exclude the possibility that the Rumney name came from the Levingston family, though like you I couldn't find any links. It could also be from Josiah's side.
We don't know when Josiah left Cornwall - assuming that the evidence of his Cornish origins is bullet-proof - nor whether he was married (and perhaps also widowed) in that county. I can't find any clues at Cornwall OPC - not even Josiah's baptism, though they do have other children of the same couple.
Susan48
LostCousins Superstar
Cornwall Baptisms on Findmypast have a baptism for Josiah Wadge at Callington on 21 Jul 1738, son of Josiah and Anne (which I think is the baptism referred to at the beginning of this thread). Some years later there is a baptism for Josiah Wadge on 20 May 1791, also at Callington, son of Agrippa and Christian.
Given that Josiah and Sarah named one of their children Agrippa in 1778 it seems likely that there is a family connection, although I'm not sure it takes us any further.
No trace at all of Rumney on Josiah's side, either maternal or paternal & I have documentary evidence going back several generations before that. Nor on his mother's lines - both families wealthy landowners with good paper trails.
Josiah's baptism entry reads "Josiah son of Josiah & An Wage" - the only time in Cornish records that the name as wrongly spelt !
Josiah's origins are infeed bullet proof - in the will of Mary Doidge her properties in Nottingham were left to Josiah, son of Josiah Wadge clockmaker of Callington & his wife Ann Doidge.
In 1785 lease & release documents document the sale of these properties by Josiah Wadge of Portsmouth and his wife Sarah & detail how he came to be the owner.
Cornwall has long been the leader in its genealogy resources and I have noted ALL Wadge BMDs throughout that county for 40 years now & corresponded with many other researchers & archives in the area.
No trace anywhere of a marriage for Josiah.
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