Choice of marriage witnesses

I have been noticing a trend in the choice of witnesses at the marriages of my 19c relatives. Quite often the witnesses are (as you might expect) the respective fathers, but in a surprisingly large number of instances the witnesses are a sibling and his/her future spouse. This is fantastic for confirming I have the right people identified, but it set me wondering - was there some sort of superstition about it? You know how the girl who catches the bride's bouquet will supposedly be the next married? was there some 'belief' that being witnesses would ensure the wedding of the next couple? Was it a compliment, did it bring good luck to either couple? It certainly doesn't seem to be cases of clandestine marriages, attended only by a sympathetic brother and his girlfriend, as the practice (Suffolk and Norfolk) is quite common. Has anyone else met this?

 

Siblings are often marriage witnesses in my tree too - very useful in confirming identities (especially with my Smith ancestors!)
I also have instances of a sibling & future spouse being witnesses, also neighbours occasionally

 

Having somebody I am searching for on FreeReg turn up as a witness rather than the bride or groom is always very useful and sometimes points me in the direction of a sibling I have missed in pre-census days. I had one person show up as a witness to more weddings than I thought was likely from his possible relationship to the bride and groom until I came across a record from another source showing he was the sexton for the church.

 

Thanks for the input to this, guys.

I have all sorts of patterns (and non-patterns to my witnesses). In a couple of large families I have 'reciprocal witnessing', where one couple are witnesses at a wedding and later the first bride and groom are witnesses for the second couple. I have 'chains', where the next youngest sister of the bride is a witness, so it passes down the line of girls (rather as Alexander comments). I have the same name recurring as a witness (at first I was looking for family link, then decided he was the chap always hanging round the church who'd be a witness for half-a-crown). One passing observation is that I have noticed that often an unmarried couple were witnesses 2 or 3 years before their own wedding, suggesting the relationship was serious for quite some time (e.g. a long engagement)

Perhaps a Useful Hint to new family searchers is 'Don't overlook the witnesses'.

 

Yes, I do but don't have many yet.
GenoPro provides a standard field for recording just the names, along with the name and title of the person conducting the marriage. I record the information when I find it, just because the field is there. If it is an odd fact for which I have no specific field then I add a note, with reference, so that it does not get lost.

*** I have learned to record everything when I find it as it is such a big job to go back and add that information later. ***

I have not yet gone on to follow up and see how the witnesses might be related, other than where they are obviously immediate family. I am saving that for a 'rainy' day when there is nothing more important to do.

 

Witnesses are incredibly important

The Essex Society for Family History CDs of the Colchester Parish Registers indexes names of witnesses as well as of bride and groom, which is a useful bonus.

 

FreeReg includes witnesses when you search for name. That is, if you search for Christopher Marjoram (as I do) it will include cases where he has been a groom, a father of bride/groom or witness (as well as instances where a Christopher X appears in the same record as X Marjoram). Familysearch seems to ignore witnesses, which is shame.

 

I record them in notes, then find myself investigating them. I do have to stop myself from going too far though when they are not
related to bride or groom. Having said that, it can be fruitful (and always interesting in any case).

 

I do too. In FTM I created a custom (shared) Fact 'Witnesses' and add the names and relationship to bride or groom, if known. I have often investigated the unrelated witnesses which has led to some interesting discoveries. Anything interesting gets recorded in the notes section for the relevant bride/groom.

I also use the another version of Witnesses (not shared) for witnesses to Wills. This too has proved revealing as they aren't always solicitors. In fact they rarely are.

 

I should have said that when you search by name you get witnesses as well as bride and groom. There is no separate index for witnesses.

 

You are very diligent. I've not gone very far into witnesses for wills, but look closely at executors and those applying for probate/administration. They are often nephews, sons-in-law etc. There is one collection of rather upmarket relatives in early 19c who remind me of Jane Austen writing about few families in a small country circle. This lot seemed to marry, witness, execute, etc within a small closed loop. If I could do a search for '2 or more of the following names in combination' I could practically be sure I could trace a link to my tree.