Tressie Gerhard

The handwriting for the following marriage registration is difficult. Such as transcribed here is the best that may be made of it.

Mrge reg. 007150-85 City of London, Middlesex Co.
Descombe Whitehead, 24, bachelor, cooper, Methodist. Born Lyndoch, Ontario, residing Delhi, Ontario. Parents James G.Whitehead and Sarah (...) Whitehead.
Tressie Gerhard, 16, spinster, Methodist. Born Norwich, Ontario, residing Delhi, Ontario. Parents Adam Gerhard and Martha Jane (Dennis) Gerhard.
Witnesses Julia Jamjes of London, Ont., and Mary E. ... of Hamilton.
On 4 November, 1885, at 464 Park Ave., London, by Rev. D. G. Sutherland.

Some names are illegible on the form. Tressie's mother's maiden name is almost impossible to read, but Martha Jane Gerhard's registration of death in 1919 shows her maiden name to be Dennis and this works with what is discernable on Tressie's marriage registration. The clergyman's surname is almost impossible to read, but a city directory for London of the era (available for viewing on Library & Archives Canada's website) shows him to be D. G. Sutherland.

Registrations for London are shown as either city or township. These were two municipalties and had their own recording clerks.

Tressie's place of birth is shown as Norwich and so it is shown as such here for it may be correct. Two contiguous townships in Oxford County were North Norwich and South Norwich. The village of Norwich is located in North Norwich Township. The difficulty with this is that Tressie's family is shown as being in South Northwich Township as of the 1871 census, perhaps two years after her birth. Her father is shown as a carpenter rather than a farmer so the family may not have been tied to a specific piece of land, but it does seem the more likely that Tressie was born in South Norwich Township.