Widow on census but partner alive

[Jolene1987]

Hi
Sorry if this topic has been posted before but I am little confused over some information I have found.  Was it common for people to put down on the census that they are a widow even when their husband /wife are still alive and living elsewhere?

I have notice a couple of cases of this including one where the man married someone else but stated he was a widow on marriage cert but his first wife was living elsewhere with the children but she also claimed on the 1901 census she was a widow.

My G-G-G Grandfather married his second wife same year the first wife had their 7th child so legally he would be a bigamist as the wife was still alive and living a few streets away.

I am guessing this was because divorce wasn't legal or maybe not acceptable then in Belfast? Either way I find it a little strange.

[LizzieL]

I've got a similar one. although mine didn't commit bigamy. But it let me search a long time for a marriage which never existed and the registration of a child which I later found registered in the "Wife's" actual married name. Because on the census they were down as married and the child had the surname of the partner. Her husband was living in same town listed as widower with the older children of their marriage.

Although in England and probably no religious barrier to divorce, it was difficult and expensive then I believe.

[LizzieL]

Oh and I've got one where husband was transported for life and wife described herself as widow, then remarried after the seven years were up. Records show that the transported husband didn't die till a few years later, but she probably never heard of him again so assumed she was a widow.

[Jolene1987]

It's all very interesting.  It appears on my records that one child was born (the 7th child) and then a few months later he married someone else and started another family in 1884 declaring he was a widow. in 1901 the first wife has recorded herself as a widow on the census.

Also a daughter from the first marriage moved back in with her mother but the children were given her maiden name on the census in 1901 and then herself and her children had her maiden name in 1911 although the husband was still alive and filled in both census as being head of family and married.   in 1911 she claimed she was a widow!

[Plummiegirl]

I have a rellie, she married for the 2nd time as a widow, her mother and one of her sisters were witnesses.

Her husband was alive and well and living just a few streets away, with his sister and her family.....

She had 3 daughters, 1st definately from 1st marriage,  3rd definately from 2nd, but middle daughter, well that is anyones guess.  Birth cert says first husband, but by the time of the birth she had been with 2nd husband a few years!!!!!

On 1911 census, 1st husband is as said, living with his sister and states he is married.

She is livng with 2nd 'husband', who she did not marry for another 3 or 4 years!!!

And this is not the most outrageuous story in my tree.......

[PaulineJ]

Marital status is more a half-truth than a lie.

The not-that-uncommon a scenario is that the couple splits; live as "widower" and "widow" or appear on census with a fresh spouse. When the first party of the "split" marriage dies, the survivor legally weds the person they shacked up with years before.

[FionaO]

Just curious, but when you get married now and claim to be a widow/er do you need to provide proof that a previous spouse has died?  (Thankfully it's not a problems I've every had.)

[Jolene1987]

I find this stuff fascinating! I am guessing sometimes it was just easier to say you were a widow than admit 1) your marriage fell apart (esp for the women) or 2) you had more than one on the go lol.

[Sloe Gin]

A variation on this.

Family story that my GG Grandfather disappeared and was believed to have been murdered.  He wasn't, as I found him subsequently elsewhere. 

Whether his wife really believed him to be dead or not, we shall probably never know.  But when she married her second husband, she is stated to be a spinster on the certificate.  Very strange, as she used her married name, and gave the correct name for her father, so the surnames are different.  As she had a bunch of children, her new husband must have been aware that she had been married so it can't have been done to deceive him.

Goes to show that you should never assume that information on certificates is accurate.