Part 143gc- Smith Robertson Genealogy – Goodey Crossley 1890 Marriage - Church Found, Maybe?

Evening,
I’m always amazed at how fast, at times, answers pile up to the questions of my genealogy that I ask. In Part 142gc, which I posted just this afternoon, I asked the question: “Does anyone know the name of the Parish Church that great-grandparents Joseph James and Mary Alice (née Crossley) Goodey were married in?” To my amazement, after I Googled and Binged, (if those are proper verbs), the phrase “Parish of Littleborough, County of Lancaster”, I discovered a possible link at Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com has a database set to a book titled “The History of The Parish of Rochdale in the County of Lancaster”, by Henry Fishwick, F.S.A; published in Rochdale and London in 1889.

In this text, and online there are a number of sketches and images of Chapels and Church buildings in the Parish of Rochdale. Of course, due to my lack of knowledge or experience, and the fact that an actual name of the Parish Church of Littleborough is not included on any of the 1890 Marriage documents, as presented in Part 142gc, I cannot be sure which Church is the actual one where the marriage took place.

And here’s where the coincidences come in, that is, if one can call them coincidences.

On the Marriage Certificate, which is not included on the Certified Copy Of An Entry Of Marriage, the following is included:

I do hereby Certify that the above is a true Extract from the Register Book of Marriages, kept at the Parish Church of Littleborough, in the County of Lancaster.
Witness my hand, this 28th day of August 1890 Alfred Salts, LL.D., Vicar of the aforesaid Parish Church of Littleborough.

On page 201 the text, in The History of The Parish of Rochdale, which was published in around November of 1889, approximately one year before the marriage of great-grandparents James Joseph and Mary Alice, states: "The REV. ALFRED SALTS. LL.D., is the present vicar."

The one and the same!

In the Preface, dated October 31st, 1889, by the author, Henry Fishwick, he thanks “Dr. Salts, vicar of Littleborough”. Further in the Preface, there appears to be a distinct delineation, in the author’s thanks, between the Parishes of Rochdale and of Littleborough.

A sketch drawn by Rev, B. Shuttleworth in 1770, of the Littleborough Chapel provides a distinct and possible unique building different from the Rochdale Parish Church in 1830 as sketched by one, W. Physick. Both illustrations are provided in the found text.

Sources: The History of The Parish of Rochdale in the County of Lancaster, Henry Fishwick;
Rochdale and London; 1889 and Ancestry.com

And so I can make a conclusion at this point, which of course may change in due course based on any new evidence, that great-grandparents Joseph James and Mary Alice (née Crossley) were married in the Littleborough Chapel.

Think about it,

Jim