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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Westmorland => England => Westmorland Lookup Requests => Topic started by: Ella Cinders on Monday 01 September 14 22:53 BST (UK)
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Researching Sarah Hannah Shepherd b. 14 June 1878 in Westmorland. From what I can see on familysearch.org, she married Matthew Soulby on 1 Aug 1898. I have found an entry for a divorce the same year and wonder how I would go about obtaining a divorce document. From this point (after 1898) I cannot find a trace of her. I'm told she had 15 children in total and lived in Barrow in Furness but I cannot come up with anything further. Any help would be appreciated.
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:) Where did the " She had 15 children in total" come from?
Keyboard86
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Hello,
There is information here (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person/divorce.htm) about divorce although you already have the details.
According to a published tree Sarah Hannah Shepherd married Porter Jones in 1900. There is a marriage in Wellingborough, Northants for Sarah Hannah Shepherd and Porter Jones.
You may be able to follow this up.
I hope this helps.
Regards
Heywood
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If she didn't marry until August, surely she wouldn't have been able to get divorced the same year?
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A relative was told that she had 15 children but I have no way of confirming this. I will follow up with Porter Jones as husband, thank you for your replies.
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Familysearch indicates marriage to Matthew Soulby on 1 Aug. 1898. Findmypast shows divorce for Sarah Hannah Shepherd and Matthew Soulby same year and then it seems he went into Military Service. Would a marriage annulment be indicated as a divorce? I do not have a membership for find my past so I did not look further.
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Hi a Sarah H Jones Married aged 25 b Kendal with a husband Porter Jones aged 37 and son George E aged 2 are visiting a Bailey family in Wellingborough, Northants in 1901 RG13/1443/128/40
Keyboard86
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Are you sure about that divorce? FindMyPast calls the record Marriages and Divorces but it only shows the marriage you quoted. I really dont think they could have married and divorced that quickly in those days. Divorce wasn't that common.
SARAH HANNAH SHEPHERD
Marriage quarter 3
Marriage year 1898
Kendal
Volume 10B Page 1193
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Are you sure about that divorce? FindMyPast calls the record Marriages and Divorces but it only shows the marriage you quoted. I really dont think they could have married and divorced that quickly in those days. Divorce wasn't that common.
SARAH HANNAH SHEPHERD
Marriage quarter 3
Marriage year 1898
Kendal
Volume 10B Page 1193
Thanks groom. It seemed odd but I thought a divorce had been found. I was imagining some sort of annulment.
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Thank you for clarifying Groom, on findmypast it indicates a divorce in 1898 for the same couple and I assumed divorce would only be stated if it occurred.
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Hi a Sarah H Jones Married aged 25 b Kendal with a husband Porter Jones aged 37 and son George E aged 2 are visiting a Bailey family in Wellingborough, Northants in 1901 RG13/1443/128/40
Keyboard86
Up to 5 children by 1911. If you then look at Freebmd there are quite a few children, father Jones and mother Shepherd registered Hayfield district, Derbyshire between 1911 and 1921 including a Porter Jones.
Does it actually just say divorce, I cant find that - the record category says "marriages and divorce"?
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Wish I had taken a screenshot, it had marriage on one line with the date and on a second line divorce with the same date, followed by Service Records on another line with the same date, all 1898 listed separately. Now I just did another look-up and I see Marriage and Divorce together with one date and instead of just "Service Record", I see "Regimental and Service Records". Since she did not get a divorce, I will continue to look for Sarah Hannah Soulby but so far I see very little.
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I've just searched FindMyPast divorce records and there is nothing coming up in either name I'm afraid.
From what I can see, He enlisted on 30th September 1898 4th Manchester regiment, but he had also been in the Border Regiment - 34th & 55th Foot from 1885 until January 1898.
Something odd going on here if this is the right man, in 1898 he gives his POB as Kendal but his address as Manchester, where he has been living since he left the army in January and he states that he is single. I wonder if they married and then he deserted her?
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A relative was told that she had 15 children but I have no way of confirming this. I will follow up with Porter Jones as husband, thank you for your replies.
You will need to check deaths. The total number of children may be 15 but some may not have survived.
It looks to me as though they split up for whatever reason soon after marriage and Sarah Hannah then married Porter Jones - perhaps bigamously.
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Thank you Keyboard, Groom and Heywood for some good leads. I will follow-up and obtain marriage certificates. Sarah Hannah has been such a mystery and I had no idea that events would turn in this direction.
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Would anyone be able to help locate the death of Sarah Hannah Jones (nee Shepherd)? She was born in 1878 and died after 1921. Uncertain of her location in England after 1921, husband Porter Jones. This would help solve a mystery. Thank you.
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Hi possibly to give a clue, a Porter Jones died Dec qtr 1930 Hayfield 7b 890 aged 67
Keyboard86
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Hi again, and a possible re-marriage?
Sarah H Jones to George Pritchard March qtr 1932 Hayfield 7b 1771
Keyboard86
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There's a possible death:
Sarah H Pritchard 67 yrs
Chapel en le Frith December 1946 vol 10a pg 757
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That death looks to be correct as this is from the Derbyshire Registrars Index:-
Sarah Hannah Pritchard birth year 1879 Death Hayfield 1946 aged 67 Place Hayfield Register entry HD/G3-3/084 Register Office High Peak
Keyboard86
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Thank you so much keyboard86 and Heywood, you've been a tremendous help to me. It would have taken a very long time for me to arrive at these results. Grateful for the information you have provided. Kind regards, Ella
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It's a pleasure ;)
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I've obtained marriage and death certificates based on the helpful information provided and you were correct so again I offer my thanks. There is just one mystery with Sarah Hannah's first marriage to Matthew Soulby, I could never find a death record. Perhaps he was missing and presumed dead and this is why Sarah Hannah remarried. It appears he was serving in the Manchester Regiment at the time of the Boer War, he was serving in the military since the age of 18. Any hints as to how I can research this further? In 1885, he was in the 2nd Battalion Border Regiment (an amalgamation of the 34th (Cumberland) and 55th (Westmorland) Regiments. In 1898, it appears he joined the 4th Manchester Regiment.
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This is just a thought but could the "quickie" divorce be because one of the parties was already married? If Matthew Soulby had already been married he could re-enlist in the Manchester Regiment and hi-tail it to South Africa? There was no central record keeping by the Army and each regiment was responsible for its own records so if he moved from Kendal to Manchester, he would just "disappear."
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Hello again :)
Re Matthew Soulby
Groom's earlier reply indicates that his Army records are available on FindMyPast.
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KHYL-QCV
There are available records of his admission to the Reformatory School in Yorkshire. He is there in 1881 4558/95/22 - a sad life
He was baptised there in 1883
Do you have this - https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KM3G-GB7
Here is some information re Manchester Regiment Boer War casualties - I can't see him there http://www../Boer_War_Casualties_version2.xls
Do you have the birth record of George Edward Soulby 1899, Kendal. It presumably would just show Matthew is in the Manchesters?
British Postal Services show a Matthew Soulby appointed as a Postman in Whitehaven in 1900. However there is no other information.
I did wonder why/ how Sarah Hannah ends up in Northamptonshire but I see Porter Jones was living there in 1891. His first wife dies in Wellingborough in 1897. All a bit of a mystery.
Maybe Sarah Hannah left Matthew :-\
Heywood
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Thanks once more for all your help Heywood. The causality information on the Regiments was very useful as well as the information on the British Postal position. It seems Matthew Soulby was the black sheep of the family at least in his early years. His brother Christopher Soulby is on the Kendal Honor Roll having died in the Great War. Still unable to find a death record for Matthew, I thought he may have died in the Boer War, will keep searching.