Genealogy Chat

I am trying to find the marriage of my great great grandparents. Robert Lillico was born circa 1829 in Barmoor Northumberland and died in 1898 at Togston Crescent Northumberland. Mary Hay was born circa 1930 at Wooler Northumberland. As far as I know their first child is Mary born circa 1853 at Lowick Northumberland. So far I haven't been able to find their marriage. Can anybody help.

Thanks

Welcome to the boards Denise.

I know from my own research that a lot of people in Northumberland at that time were non-conformist and the non-conformist records are kept separate from parish records. The staff at Northumberland County Records office are very helpful and if you contact them they may be able to find the record for you as the non-conformist records are transcribed and easy to search through.

My husband and I once spent a whole afternoon looking through parish records for hubby's great grandfather's baptism (he was born in Lowick) and as we were leaving because the office was closing a member of staff asked if we had found what we were looking for. When we said no, she told us about the non-conformist records and within 5 minutes had found the transcribed records and the baptism we were looking for. If only we had spoken to her as we went in instead of when we were leaving!!

Kath. x

Could this be the family in the 1861 census? :-

First Name ROBERT
Last Name LILICO
Relationship HEAD
Condition MARRIED
Gender Male
Age 31
Year Of Birth 1830
Occupation AGRICULTURAL LABOURER
Birth Town LOWICK
Birth County NORTHUMBERLAND
Birth Place -
House Name -
Street BEANLEY VILLAGE
Parish BEANLEY
Town -
City -
Registration District ALNWICK
County Northumberland
Country ENGLAND
Archive Reference RG09
Piece Number 3880
Folio 61
Page 7
Record set 1861 England, Wales & Scotland Census

Other Household Members
First Name Last Name Relationship Age Year Of Birth Birth Town
MARY J JAIS SERVANT 17 1844 WOOLER
ELLEN LILICO DAUGHTER 8 1853 LOWICK
ISABELLA LILICO DAUGHTER 6 1855 LOWICK
MARY LILICO WIFE 31 1830 WOOLER
MARY LILICO DAUGHTER 4 1857 LOWICK <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
ROBERT LILICO SON 2 1859 LOWICK
JOHN LILIES BROTHER 29 1832 LOWICK

Kath. x

Hi Kath

I have the details from the 1961 Census and you're correct it is my family. I do know about the non conformist records. I live very close to the archives and go as regularly as I can. I have literally looked for this marriage for about 2 years and I've looked at both parish records and non conformists records. To be honest I'm even struggling to find the baptisms of all their children. I'm beginning to think they may not have been married. Thanks for looking anyway.

Denise

1871 with a few more children for reference:

Name: Robert Lillico
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1871
Gender: Male
Age: 41
Relationship to Head of Household: Self
Birthplace: Lowick, Northumberland
Schedule Type: Household
Registration District: Morpeth
Sub-District: Bedlington
Parish: Hepscott
County: Northumberland
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Self Robert Lillico M 41 Lowick, Northumberland
Wife Mary Lillico F 41 Wooler, Northumberland
Daughter Mary Lillico F 18 Lowick, Northumberland
Daughter Elleanor Lillico F 16 Lowick, Northumberland
Daughter Elizabeth Lillico F 14 Lowick, Northumberland
Son Robert Lillico M 12 Warkworth, Northumberland
Daughter Alice A Lillico F 9 Bothal, Northumberland
Son John Lillico M 7 Bothal, Northumberland
Daughter Jane Lillico F 5 Morpeth, Northumberland
Son William Lillico M 1 Horton, Northumberland

Surely, even non-conformists would have to have a Civil registration of their marriage..............if one occurred

Silly question - were is/was the Scottish border? Would it have been practical to cross and marry there?

Not silly at all DET - some of my family were from the Norham area and found 2 children's births registered in Scotland.

From Wooler............to nearest town in Scotland..........

Coldstream 14 + miles

My geography 'up north' is a little sketchy to say the least ;-) :-D

Death according to this was Togston Terrace:

26 November 1898 - Morpeth Herald

Deaths
At Togston Terrace, 20th inst., aged 69, Robert Lillico, beloved husband of Mary Lillico.

It is possible that they had an "irregular" marriage. These were valid in law but not approved by the Church. Many were recorded in the Berwick Advertiser. Some of these marriages were held at Toll Bridges, Inns or private houses - usually over the border into Scotland.

I have a book of some "Irregular Marriages" from 1808 to 1864 which were recorded in the Berwick Advertiser and other Border Papers. Although I can't find an entry for Robert Lillico there is this one who could possibly be a relation:-

1st Feb. 1846 - Richard Lilico, blacksmith of Ford Forge, to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Mr. James Nevins of Crookham East Field. Place of marriage Coldstream. Date of newspaper 14th Feb. 1846.

Kath. x

Thanks for your help everyone. Most of the info I already have. I checked the Scottish records and there is no record of their marriage and I have only recently heard about irregular marriages. The website I saw said that the records of some of the irregular marriages were held at Berwick so I may have to have a trip there at some point.

Kath thanks for that info. You would think that the name Llillico would be easy to research as it's unusual, at least that's what I thought until I started researching it. Every single person in the with the surname Lillico appears to have had at least 10 children and they have all called their children by the same names. It's an absolute nightmare