Margaret Marshall was one of my maternal Great Grandmas. She was born in South Terrace, Seaham Harbour on 6th February 1879 at 3:20am. The birth certificate is quite specific about the time because also born that morning was her twin sister Catherine.
She was due to marry someone (I don't know who) on October 23rd 1897, but instead she eloped on October 22nd
with my Great Grandfather Thomas Henry James and married him in Earsden,
Northumberland, on November 8th 1897, before returning to Seaham Harbour.
Her groom and the Guests had arrived at the church for the wedding and that's when they discovered she had eloped.
Several local papers reported this elopement, with various suggestions as to where they had eloped to including America!
Thomas and Margaret would go on to have 7 Children the eldest of which was Dorothy James, my maternal Grandma.
Margaret died in 1908 and her husband Thomas later married her younger sister Mary Ann Marshall.