Was this a bigamous marriage?

[lesleyhannah]

John Potter (b c1839 Okehampton) married his 2nd wife MaryJane Jarvis 1883 Newton Abbot. In 1891 Mary Jane  (b 1832 St Marychurch) is with the children of her 1st marriage in Plainmoor Cottages Torquay. John is with his brother in Chester Row.
In 1901 John aged 64 is apparently married to Emma Potter and living in Torquay. Emma is 43. A daughter from John's 1st marriage is living with them.
I can't find any record of MaryJane's death although there is a possible marriage between an Emma Wilson and John Potter in 1899.
I'm having problems logging on to findmypast so would be grateful if anyone could find a possible death for MaryJane - or indeed if she was still around in 1911.
Thanks for any help.

[terryleaman]

From my database:-

POTTER   Mary Jane   was buried:-   08 April 1899   age:-   59   notes/address:-   Plainmoor   where:-   St Marychurch                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

[lesleyhannah]

Thank you, again, terryleaman - your database has helped me before, and I'm very grateful. Findmypast is just refusing to work on my laptop and I'm feeling a bit helpless. Thanks to you I can use freebmd to narrow the search for the marriage with Emma. and send for a death cert for MaryJane.
Regards

[lesleyhannah]

Have just looked up the death using Terryleaman's info. Freebmd only has 2 Mary Jane Potters in 1899 - one is a infant death, the other is a 58 year old(so I assume this is the one). I had seen this on findmypast before it froze my laptop, but I'd discounted it because the registration district Devonport - all the other certificates I've bought have been Newton Abbott. I know the family were living in Torquay, so I looked up Devonport on the map, and decided it was unlikely to be the right Mary. I'm new to the area, so would like to know whether someone dying in Torquay would come under Devonport in the records?  If so, I may be able to find John Potter's 3rd marriage (and his death, which I've also not been able to find = maybe because I'd limited my search to Newton Abbott).

[avm228]

Torquay would have been in Newton Abbot district at the time, not Devonport.

See: www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/Reg/districts/newton%20abbot.html

But - people don't always die at home.

[lesleyhannah]

Thanks avm228 - I did think it unlikely to be Devonport. But, as you say, she could have been away from home. I think I'm going to have to take a risk and send for the certificate, although I've got quite a queue on my certificate 'waiting list'! Terryleaman's data has convinced me that this must be the right person, and if she did die away from home then the death cert may well contain a new snippet of information. It's been a complicated story, so anything is possible.

[terryleaman]

FindMyPast has this entry;-
First Name    MARY JANE
Last Name    POTTER
Age At Death    59
Year    1899
Event Quarter    2
Year Of Birth    1840
District    NEWTON ABBOT
County    Devon
Country    England
Volume    5B
Page            93
Line Number    203
Record set    England & Wales deaths 1837-2007
Category    Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records
Record collection    Deaths & burials
Collections from    United Kingdom

[lesleyhannah]

Curious ! I've printed out the FreeBMD results and there were only 2 - one of which was a baby. I gave up trying with FindMyPast as it kept freezing my laptop - but I'm wondering why Free BMD didn't bring up the Newton Abbot result. Fortunately I haven't ordered the certificate yet - so yet another thank you!