Reasons may vary but as I believe I have previously mentioned - it was far from unusual for a Cornishman to marry in Devon or Hampshire or even Wales and other places around England and then return to during the 18th Century. With no marriage found in Cornwall and also with the naming of a daughter Hannah Davis Phillips it is a logical conclusion that the 1799 marriage at Ringwood is a strong possibility in this case.
If my conclusion is correct there is always a chance it can be proved at least beyond reasonable doubt. Existing records are always helpful but in the absence of original records then process of elimination can be a very useful tool.
I could offer a 'smart' answer and say that he was in Hampshire at the time of the marriage purely because that is where his bride-to-be was.
But as I said above there could be any number of reasons. We have not identified Susanna as yet so one possibility could be that she was of Cornish origin and Hampshire was her home at the time.
Aha! There appears to be a touch of 'assumption' creeping in! But if you check a little further into Cornish records you will find that Susanna Phillips was actually age 77 when she died in 1849 thus placing her birth around 1772.
I have to say that this family is quite elusive in 1841 and in 1851 there is evidence of lying about ages. (Not uncommon!) I cannot find John Phillips in 1841 and for that matter I am having trouble finding most of his family. But I did find what appears to be this John Phillips in 1851 as a widower and living with his daughter Susan who had married George Chapman.
I was not sure I had the right people at first because in 1851 Susan said she was age 33 which meant she would have been born about 1817 or 1818. But then I found that she had married George Chapman at St Ives in 1829 at which time, if born in 1818, she would have been just 11 years of age!
But in the 1841 Census she was age 25 (age round down) which indicated she must have been the daughter of John and Susanna baptized in 1812. Also in 1841 with the Chapmans was a 'Susan Phillips' age 55 and a Henry Phillips age 10.
Susan Phillips at age 55 is probably Susan Chapman's mother however her age also is unlikely to be correct and I believe should be 65. Henry Phillips is a complete unknown and I can find no record of him anywhere.
It is very awkward that John and, it seems, other members of the family can't be found in 1841 but we do have Susan Phillips with Susan Chapman in 1841 and then John Phillips with Susan in 1851 suggesting that this is the same family under discussion.
My point about this is that Susanna Phillips of St Ives age 77 was buried at St Ives 12th January 1849 and then in 1851 we have John Phillips age 81 living with daughter Susan Chapman and recorded as a widower. John Phillips of St Ives age 84 was buried at St Ives 30th March 1852.
Indeed she is ………...…. but a little more searching has produced something of interest which I believe points more to my tentative conclusions about that marriage being correct.
Hampshire records are a little more difficult but FamilySearch does have a lot of records transcribed. On looking at what details I had for the family of John and Susanna Phillips it occurred to me that there was a somewhat sizeable gap between the date of marriage and the first known child (John in 1803) so I thought I would look further to see if I might be able to fill that gap.
By doing a general search on FamilySearch for any Phillips children baptized to parents John and Susanna between the years 1795 and 1810 all over England I came up with a list of 34 of which some were duplicates and others were for 'Phillipson'. Others appeared in Essex, Cambridge, Southwark, Surrey, Kent, Worcester and Gloucester and could mostly be discounted because of conflicts with the baptisms in Cornwall.
Narrowing the search down to Cornwall itself produced the nine entries which, with duplicates, were for the four children baptized at St Ives before 1812. So it provided very, very interesting when I changed the search location to Hampshire. That particular search produced just 4 entries which were all duplicates of just ONE entry:-
Amelia daughter of John and Susanna Phillips baptized 31st May 1801 St Peter and St Paul, Fareham, Hampshire!
This fills that gap between 1799 and 1803 reasonably well but it is very important for one other very good reason - it goes quite some way to proving that my conclusions about the 1799 marriage may be correct!
You see on April 5th 1820 at St Ives, Cornwall there is a marriage between Amelia Phillips and James Penberthy and in the 1841 Census Amelia Penberthy states she was age 40 and (even better) in 1851 Amelia Penberthy states she was age 50 AND BORN SOUTHAMPTON, HAMPSHIRE!
Fareham is southeast of Southampton and about 10km from Portsmouth so a very good match for the 1801 Baptism and also, in 1851 James and Amelia Penberthy had an 8 year old daughter named Susanna. The location also suggests the possibility that John Phillips occupation was probably something to do with the sea.
Actually, I believe this St Ives is actually in Dorset but not far from the Hampshire border. In any case, some of the above should help with John being in Hampshire.
Susannah is certainly not identified - certainly you have a reasonable candidate IF her age in 1841 (55) is near correct but NOT if her age at death is correct.
As it should - but the fact we have Ameelia baptized at Fareham in 1801 and then married at St Ives in Cornwall in 1820 should help dampen those tones.
Please do.
CT