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Marriage of Sarah Shortridge, unclear witness name, suggestion

The marriage was at St. John's, Park, 31 Mar 1851, and has a query on a witness name:
"M~ Miller". This was almost certainly one of the family of George Miller, business partner of the bride's father John Shortridge. The 1851 census was the previous day(!) and the Miller family were residing at Wadsley House, showing wife Mary, son Henry and daughter Mary A. (Afraid I did not note the full ref. to the image, in HO 107 2335, Sch.no. 102 within Wadsley.)

Miller, Blackie and Shortridge had constructed a large part of the railway from Manchester as far as Retford, John Shortridge was responsible for the Wicker Arches. His address Wybourn House later became the Belle Vue public house and is now a nursery adjacent to the Cricket Inn Road supertram stop.

Sally

Re: Marriage of Sarah Shortridge, unclear witness name, suggestion

The parish record on this site also struggles with Miller. It has:
Married in the presence of M~ Miller,Richard Kennedy,William Brown,Sarah Martha Shortridge.

An alternative eye at FamilySearch.org has one the witnesses as Martin Millon
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6652-NLVH

Re: Marriage of Sarah Shortridge, unclear witness name, suggestion

Hi

Looking at the original image the witness name definitely isn't Mary, Mary Ann or Martin (though I can see why someone might possibly imagine Martin).

It looks like it could possibly be Marian or Mariann (so could be the Mary A on the 1851 census).

But hard to be sure, hence our transcriber marking the name as query/unreadable.

Denise

Re: Marriage of Sarah Shortridge, unclear witness name, suggestion

Thank you both for your opinions. Obviously not easily resolved. Mary Ann seems possible, I think it was more usual then for the younger generation to be witnesses. Sarah Martha Shortridge was Sarah's sister in law; but they are not my family, I had been looking at the businesses.

George William King was a civil engineer who took his wife to Canada, where he died. At the 1861 census Sarah was a widow living in Albert Road, Heeley with two children born in "America New Brunswick".

Sally

Re: Marriage of Sarah Shortridge, unclear witness name, suggestion

Mary Ann married John Finch MACHEN in 1852 at St Philip's. Her signature is in a back-sloping handwriting very different from the earlier one.

Hugh

Re: Marriage of Sarah Shortridge, unclear witness name, suggestion

After a bit of a search I found the marriage of Mary Ann's brother Henry in Huddersfield in 1867 - no MILLER witnesses.

Hugh