Mary Ann Hall's Marriage to "Tho" French Most Likely Incorrect

For years it has been recorded in Hall family records that Thomas Hall's sister, Mary Ann Hall, married a "Tho" French. I searched for the marriage record and found it. A Mary Ann Hall and a Tho French were married 28 May 1826 in Newton Longville, Buckingham, England.[1] I looked at a map of England and noticed that Buckinghamshire is a fair distance away from Liverpool. I found it unlikely that a twenty-year-old girl would have married a man as far away as Buckinghamshire, especially when it is much more common for a couple to marry in the wife's parish. Therefore, I decided to disprove that this marriage record was pertinent to our Mary Ann Hall (1806).

The first step I took, which proved successful, was to search specifically for another Mary Ann Hall, but this time I searched for her in Buckinghamshire. I found her! She was christened 15 Jul 1804 in Newton Longville, Buckingham, England. Her father was listed as Rob. Hall and her mother as Eliz.[2] It is understandable that someone may have assumed this was the same Mary Ann since the parent's names are the same. But, all the evidence together, including the distance between the two locations, makes a very good case that our Mary Ann Hall was not married to Tho French. Therefore, we are back at square one in our search for Mary Ann.


[1] 28 May 1826 marriage for Mary Ann Hall and Tho French, Newton Longville, Buckingham, England. Familysearch.org, accessed 12 Sep 2013.  Film number 599898.

[2] 15 Jul 1804 christening for Mary Anne Hall, Newton Longville, Buckingham, England, Familysearch.org, accessed 12 Sep 2013. Film number 599898.

Picking Back Up

After a summer break from research on the Hall Family I am finally picking it back up. This semester I will be focusing on the siblings of Thomas Hall. There are just a few pieces of information about them, aside from their christening records which I have already found, that we know. It may be tricky finding them since they have common first and last names, but hopefully we will have a couple of breakthroughs!

Here is a list of Thomas' siblings:

Thomas Hall: born/christened: 18 Dec 1801/ 17 Jan 1802

William Hall: born/christened: 17 Jun 1804/ 8 Jul 1804

Mary Ann Hall: born/christened: 21 May 1806/ 26 Sep 1806

Joseph Hall: born/christened: 4 Oct 1808/ 30 Oct 1808

Robert Hall: born/christened: 19 Dec 1810/ 6 Jan 1811

Mary Jane Hall: born/christened: 1812 or 1813/ 19 Jan 1813

Henry Hall: born/christened: Abt. 1815/ 13 Aug 1815

Thomas Hall (ours): 1 Sep 1816/ 29 Dec 1816

Robert Hall: born/christened: Abt. 1818/ 2 Nov 1818

Mary Ann Hall supposedly married "Tho" French and Joseph Hall supposedly married a "Catherine". Joseph also died about 1847. I will begin researching these two siblings since the most is known about them.

Henry Hall and Robert Hall (either or both) supposedly died young. There is a chance the first Thomas (1801) also died young which is why there is another child named Thomas (1816). This may be the case with the first Robert as well. Death and burial dates given for the second Robert and Henry have not been verified.

If you know anything about this family, please let me know!

Cheers!