An update after three and a half years!! Some brick walls seem unsolvable.
George Lamont Horn: 1903-1976
Birth certificate was ordered. William Nixon Horn and Violet Kemp Thomson are his parents (according to the certificate).
He disappears from all records until 1930-something, where he is actually in the newspaper. He is charged with entering into a bigamist marriage with Nellie Greenfield (Ellen Linfield was fake name used by my G-Grandmother). They illegally marry in 1933 and legally in 1938.
William Nixon Horn: 1868-?
Unlike George, William's early life is well documented and then he disappears from the face of the earth. Born in 1868 in Glasgow, parents George Horn and Mary Nixon. Lives at home into his twenties and is listed as an Analytical Chemist before heading to Chile for work in 1896. He marries Violet Kemp Thomson, who I assume met in Glasgow. She followed him out later.
Violet returns to Scotland for a year and a half but when she returns William has turned to alcohol and "lost his situation".
Violet actually lodges for divorce in 1907, claiming that in 1901, William abandoned her in Chile and returned to the UK (immigration/shipping record found late 1901). Violet returns in 1902 (immigration/shipping record a few months later than William's) but when she returns, William had apparently already left for Australia.
No more records for William have been found.
Violet Kemp Thomson: 1872-1946
Parents are Robert Thomson and Agnes Aitchison. After returning to Scotland, she has George in November 1903. Violet is listed in 1911 back in Scotland, but claims to have never had children. She emigrates to Australia and lives in Geelong where she continues working as a maternity nurse and dies in 1946. She uses Horn(e) until her death and her death certificate states that she was a widow of William.
Questions that haven't been answered;
If William left for Australia before Violet returned to the UK in early 1902, then William cannot be George's father (b.NOV 1903).
Where on earth is William after 1902?
Why are there no records for George for 30 years?
What I'm thinking at the moment;
George went into a home (or equivalent) when he was born. He was born in Croydon, England, where there are no family links whatsoever. Violet returned to Scotland in 1902 and she is there again in 1911.
I found one record that was a bit later than stated, in Feb 1903, that a 'Wm Horn' was shipped to Fremantle, Austraila and claimed that Melbourne was his destination port. If this is my William Horn, then that techically COULD match up with George's birth AND would explain a little why Violet ended up in the same state of Victoria (albeit a few decades later).
It is a possibility, but William may not be George's father. I don't like to think this as Horn is my family name but, accept this is a possibility.
Any further help would be amazing! Sorry it's been so long since I updated.
Thanks in advance,
Chris
