456
NOTES AND QUERIES. m s. viii. DEC. e, 1913.
James Fishwick Jived at Bulsnape Hall,
in Goosnargh, arid Jennet Cross was the
daughter of Richard Cross of Barton, in the
parish of Preston. HENRY FISHWICK.
In spite of the difference in the dates, I do not think these entries indicate a second ceremony. It is not at all unusual to find a marriage which took place at A, and is duly entered in the register there, also entered in the register at B. Very often the entry in the B register states that the marriage took place at A. In the present case there is no doubt an error in the date in one of the entries. B. S. B.
I think your correspondent is in error in supposing that the parties mentioned were twice married. In transcribing for publica- tion by the Devon and Cornwall Record Society the Register of Exeter Cathedral and the registers of the several parish churches of "the city, I have come across several instances of repeated entries, the incumbent of the parish church apparently being under the impression that it was his duty to record in his register the marriage or burial of one of his parishioners, although the ceremony took place in the Cathedral. I suspect that Martin Bloxsom and Elizabeth Lord were married in -the parish church of the bride on 10 Nov., and that two days afterwards the parson of the bridegroom's church made the entry in his register.
- H. TAPLEY-SOPER.
Museum and Public Library, Exeter.
The following instance may or may not be a case in point. As, however, it is some- what extraordinary, I produce it here. At West Haddon, Northants, the marriage is recorded in the register on 1 May, 1816, of John Page and Ann Dunkley, " with the consent of her father, John Dunkley." The marriage was by licence, and contiguous to the entry in the register the following statement appears, written in pencil :
" This couple had eloped and said to have been married in London, but the father of the woman wished to have them remarried. "
JOHN T. PAGE.
Long Itchington, Warwickshire.
It is not an uncommon thing to find the same marriage recorded in two neighbouring parishes, but this must not be ta,ken to imply two ceremonies. This Society has a great many instances of the same duplication of register entries. One of the parties might many out of his own parish, and as the vicar knew the fact, he entered it in his register, not as a record that the marriage
was solemnized in his church, but as a record
that the marriage took place. It is often
impossible to say at which church the couple
were married. A discrepancy in date may
occur because one, or both, of the clergy
did not enter the marriage until the end of
the week, when posting up his register, and
had then forgotten the day of the wedding.
IVY C. WOODS;
Librarian -Sec re t ary , Society of Genealogists of London. 227, Strand, W.C. [Ms. LEONARD J. HODSON also thanked for reply.]
SPONG (11 S. viii. 389). With reference to the Spong family, my father, a Maidstone lawyer, had a client, a Col. Spong of Mill Hall in Aylesford, who told him about 1834 that the Spongs were descended from Charles II. ; and in Aylesford Church is a memorial to John Spong, who died 1815, cet. 64, which states : " orta Carolo Rege."
Downman, the artist, who then lived in the neighbourhood at Mailing, exhibited in the Royal Academy 1809 a portrait of Miss Martha Spong (Mrs. Rawen), a daughter of the above.
The Spong family were supposed to be the originals of the Wardles in ' Pickwick,' but whether this is said of the Mill Hall Spongs or their cousins of Frindsbury I do not know. W. Louis KING.
Wadesmill, Ware.
There are references to this family in
9 S. x. 72, under ' Snodgrass, a Surname,' and
10 S. iii. 269. There is a Wm. Spong buried Aylesford Churchyard, d. 1839, said to have been the War die of 'Pickwick.'
Daniel and Thomas Spong were lieu- tenants in Sir John Shaw's regiment in 1803 (Medway Volunteers).
Hasted's ' History of Kent ' : " Cosenton manor was in 1797 alienated to Mr. John Spong, of Milhale, the present owner of it " (vol. iv. p. 435).
Married at Staplehurst, 26 Nov., 1788, William Spong to Ann Simmons, licence.
Thomas Spong, Esq., occurs in estate list of the Earl of Radnor, 1837, as an occupier of property in Sandgate.
R. J. FYNMORE.
CAPT. C. J. M. MANSFIELD (11 S. viii. 330, 414). I am obliged to MR. LUMB for his reply to my query, and regret I cannot give information about the Spong family.
I am acquainted with most of Capt. Mansfield's descendants, but none of them can give any information about his ancestors. He died at St. Margaret's Bank, Rochester,
