Hi again Cando
Writing clerk/accountant/retired clerk
12 years Vic - 44 years NSW
His life is as I said, complicated.
1851 - born St Peter’s Port, Guernsey, Channel Island (parents Alexander ANDERSON & Mary Ann nee TAYLOR)
1861- UK Census Boardng School Hove, Brighton, England age 9
1871 – UK Census St Loretto Place, St Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands age 18
1873 – resided Redfern, sydney
1873 – occupation writing clerk
1873 – married in Sydney to ANDERSON, Emily Augusta Wood age 22
(Her father’s surname was ANDERSON)
The lady he married was his first cousin
They were married by Rev James Fullerton who was known for not asking questions - marriages often included people who were possibly under age , bigamous or elopements.
Until I began the research it was believed William was the father of Crawford Eric Leslie ANDERSON & 4 other children.
It turned out after much research that William does not appear to have fathered any of the children.
Maybe because they were cousins, or he was unable - we'll ever know.
The father of the children, including Crawford Eric Leslie ANDERSON, is almost certainly believed to have been Crawford ALLEN.
The children's mother, William's cousin, Emily Augusta Wood ANDERSON upon marriage to William, became Emily Augusta Wood Anderson ANDERSON. She never married Crawford ALLEN.
In 1898 (while still married to William ANDERSON) she married Charles Durham SCATES.
Following her death in 1928 - her husband William ANDERSON married (in 1929) Augusta CONACHER.
Certainly a tangled web.....
Apart from the Trove article re vagrancy charge and the fact that Augusta commissioned 2 stained glass windows in St Matthews Anglican Church, Manly, NSW one of which is dedicated to her husband William, and the various Trove entries regarding family members that include her name - nothing is known.
How and where did they meet...? I guess we'll never know :-(