Spare a thought for your ancestors at this time of the year

[Cyclops]

If you've researched your family tree, chances are that you've found some of your kin married on Xmas or Boxing Day.
Perhaps you've been impressed at what you see as a romantic gesture.
But the reason for this choice of date is more likely to have been down to practicality.
Especially for working-class folk in towns and countryside, these days were rare, guaranteed 'days off' work and so were when weddings were arranged. Even Scrooge had to give Bob Cratchett a holiday at Christmas.
In a number of cities, particularly in London, it was a tradition for churches to offer free marriages and baptisms on 25 December.

The other side of the coin, is the preponderance of deaths around Xmas time, followed by an early January burial. Many moons ago I worked as an executor of estates. I recall one case in particular that was an enjoyable challenge when a wealthy sea captain died intestate. He had several siblings who were entitled to equal shares of his large estate. I had to travel to his home and sift through his bureau to find certificates and clues to nail down exactly who his beneficiaries were. This was my first experience of drawing up a family tree and I revelled in the detective work - which had a practical purpose.

Anyway, the reason I mention this is that I noticed that the busiest time of the year for we executors was after the Xmas/New Year holiday. The reason was obvious - huge loads and stress were put on old or ill bodies by over-indulgence and/or excitement and Dad or Auntie Gertie, or whoever, keeled over. Merry Christmas, everyone!

So, if you notice a 25/26 December wedding or a 25 December - 5 January date of death by an ancestor's name in your family tree, these are likely the reasons. It could be a happy or a sad time of year.

[A Quiet Monkfish]

So true, though looking at the strands of my various family trees, they left Christmas for sensible celebrating and keeping out of Church !

[splott parker]

My old man more or less got the double, married on December 28th 1947, died on December 28th 1991.

[IanD]

If you've researched your family tree, chances are that you've found some of your kin married on Xmas or Boxing Day.
Perhaps you've been impressed at what you see as a romantic gesture.
But the reason for this choice of date is more likely to have been down to practicality.
Especially for working-class folk in towns and countryside, these days were rare, guaranteed 'days off' work and so were when weddings were arranged. Even Scrooge had to give Bob Cratchett a holiday at Christmas.
In a number of cities, particularly in London, it was a tradition for churches to offer free marriages and baptisms on 25 December.

The other side of the coin, is the preponderance of deaths around Xmas time, followed by an early January burial. Many moons ago I worked as an executor of estates. I recall one case in particular that was an enjoyable challenge when a wealthy sea captain died intestate. He had several siblings who were entitled to equal shares of his large estate. I had to travel to his home and sift through his bureau to find certificates and clues to nail down exactly who his beneficiaries were. This was my first experience of drawing up a family tree and I revelled in the detective work - which had a practical purpose.

Anyway, the reason I mention this is that I noticed that the busiest time of the year for we executors was after the Xmas/New Year holiday. The reason was obvious - huge loads and stress were put on old or ill bodies by over-indulgence and/or excitement and Dad or Auntie Gertie, or whoever, keeled over. Merry Christmas, everyone!

So, if you notice a 25/26 December wedding or a 25 December - 5 January date of death by an ancestor's name in your family tree, these are likely the reasons. It could be a happy or a sad time of year.

Nearest I've got is a wedding in London, my 4x great grandfather. He went to live down on the coast in Hampshire, got married there, first wife died and then he returned to London to marry again on January 2nd. He was my 10 year long brick wall in the family genealogy. The family were caulkers so, for my ancestor, he went where the work was.
Just because we could, we visited the church in London 200 years to the day he got remarried. We were treated to a guided tour and were enlightened to find out the church was used by Dickens as the setting for the abandonment of the eponymous Little Dorrit. Then a neighbour rang to say our burglar alarm had gone off....spooky!