Further to my previous email on the Cowle connections in Lezayre and Bride.

Elizabeth/Eliza Corlett married Thos Cowle on 17 Dec1812, and had one child Ann. Sadly Thos Cowle died on 7 April 1813.

By 1818, Eliza had met Wm Christian of Ballakey Bride, and their daughter Elizabeth was christened at Bride on 23 July 1819. The old Manx custom of trial marriages of a year ( Was this a year or a year and a day, by the way ?) still prevailed, so marriage would usually follow within a year, but the couple had two sons in 1821, William and Thomas, and then a daughter Isabella in 1826. It was only on 17 November 1827 that they finally married.

This IS unusual. One possible explanation is that widows retained certain property rights provided they did not remarry, so it may be that Eliza did not remarry until her, daughter Ann, by her first marriage, reached 14, which, I think was still the age of majority at the time.

That is my own theory to explain this long delay. Does anyone have any comments

Sorry if I have been a bit slow in replying of late, but as a family we have been product testing the Swine Flu ! If there is someone, you really really hate, we can recommend it !!!

Robert