March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.


I do have the marriage record of my Grandparents, but though that I would share this one.

This is the marriage that links together the families of my Grandparents who married each other in 1939 and were completely unaware that they were related!

My Grandfather, George Butcher, descends through his maternal line, back through the surnames of Harris, Ellis and Budd. All the families deeply rooted in the parish of Puttenham. 

The common ancestor was the marriage of Richard Budd to Sarah Collins in Puttenham in 1742. Richard and Sarah raised a family of 5 children, comprising of 4 daughters and one son. Their third daughter, Mary Budd was born in Puttenham in 1779 and married in Puttenham to Richard Bridger in 1797. Richard and Mary Bridger then proceeded to have a large family of 14 children, all born in Bramshott Hampshire.

My Grandmother, Lilian Edith Matthews descends through her maternal line, back through the surname of Elstone. In this particular case, Eliza Bridger, named in the marriage certificate above was the 8th child from the family of 14 born to Richard Bridger and Mary (nee Budd).

Eliza Bridger married William Elstone in the parish of Bramshott in 1828. The Elstone’s had been in the parish since the 1730s, and were eventual owners of Bramshott paper mill, through the marriage of William’s parents, John Elstone and Ann Pim in 1786.