The entry in the Bride marriages register for the 1777 marriage states that John Kneen was of Kirk Maughold. Mary Joughan (sic) was of Bride. The witnesses were William Joughin and Robert Corkill.

There are three possibilities for Mary. There is Sue’s candidate, the 1751 daughter of James Joughin. As Sue says, the baptism was on 10th January. For legal purposes the year was still 1751, having started nearly eight months previously on 25th March. Historically that would count as 1752, so as a double date, 1751/2. Mary’s mother, also Mary Joughin, née Kerruish, had died the day before, 9th Jan, and was buried at Maughold the day after, 11th Jan. Widowed father James remarried at Lezayre in 1756 and had further children, including the Daniel that Sue quotes from Constance Radcliffe, baptised at Ramsey in 1762. Motherless Mary Joughin went on to marry Daniel Lace at Bride in 1776. I have this from Jim Smith of British Columbia, who sometimes posts on this board. He is descended from this couple, through their son John Lace (bapt Bride 1779), who was impressed into the Royal Navy and possibly fought at Trafalgar. If Jim is about, he will be able to elucidate.

Constance Radcliffe’s candidate is the Mary baptised at Bride on 18th December 1848, daughter of William Joughin “of the port”. That is a reference to the farm now called Phurt, where the road from Bride village to the Point of Ayre arrives at the east coast and turns north to the Point. There used to be a jetty there, long since lost to coastal erosion. Phurt is the mutated form of purt, the Manx word for port. I have a family tree of this Joughin family, which I copied out from a tree compiled by Constance. She gives her parents as William Joughin (1702-1784A) and Margaret Joughin (d 1796A), married at Bride in 1730. The A denotes an Archidiaconal will. Those good at wills might be able to find them. Malea, I can let you have a copy of this tree in my hand if you like. Get in touch with me by e-mail in the first instance. My address, suitably modified, is pjallen at bt internet dot com. If your reverse modification fails, post again. This Mary would have been 28 at marriage, and nearly 35 when her son Ewan was born, which is OK.

The third candidate is the Mary baptised at Bride on 15th April 1744, daughter of Daniel Joughin and Joney Moore of the Cronkbane family, my 4th great-grand-aunt, four years older than the Mary from Phurt. On her tree of the Joughins of Cronkbane Constance Radcliffe has this Mary marrying Robert Cowle at Bride in 1782. Remarkably, there were four sons, the last baptised as late as August 1789.

I could not present arguments for or against the three Mary Joughin brides that have been identified respectively with the three Mary Joughins baptised. I am simply passing on what Constance R and Jim Smith have told me. So far I have not found anything that militates against any of them, if one accepts the late child-bearing of the third candidate, the oldest of the three.