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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Topic started by: Ghostwheel on Monday 15 October 18 00:27 BST (UK)
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I'm wondering if anyone has any known cases of a widower with children remarrying in the 1800s in Ireland, preferably a Catholic. How long did it take, from the death of the first wife to the second marriage?
I'm afraid I myself don't have any definitely known examples to contribute.
Bonus question: can a sibling be a baptism sponsor (for the baptism of his or her sibling)?
Second bonus: what would the minimum age be for a baptism sponsor? I know I have definitely seen a 12. But I'm wondering if someone who was 11 could be one.
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They could marry any time, lots of widowers married quite soon after as they needed someone to care for the children.
Yes a sibling can be a sponsor as long as they have made their confirmation. My eldest brother is my youngest brother's godfather, he was 13 at the time.
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Just looking at one, wife died Oct 1895, he remarried June 1897, about a year and a half.
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They could marry any time, lots of widowers married quite soon after as they needed someone to care for the children.
Yes a sibling can be a sponsor as long as they have made their confirmation. My eldest brother is my youngest brother's godfather, he was 13 at the time.
My knowledge is restricted to English widowers in 19thC (R.C.) One whose wife died as a result of childbirth was married again, to a widow, within 6 months. The baby was youngest of 7. I read some articles last week on attitudes to mourning in Victorian England. A widow was expected to mourn her husband for approximately 2 years. Acceptable mourning period of a widower was much less. A father of young children was expected to find a replacement mother-figure.
My brother, aged 13, was my sponsor. I was between 10 and 12 when I was first invited to be a godmother. I declined the honour, more than once. I think there's a preferred minimum age now. It seemed to be more lax when I was young.
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Widower: As has been stated, correctly, there was no minimum waiting period.
Godparents: There was/is no age requirement, as such. The requirement is that the godparent is confirmed.
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Thanks, everyone! I appreciate the responses.
I was considering a gap of 25 months between the last child of the first marriage and the first of the second. No other clues really, except for the baptisms. I wasn't sure if that was too short a time, but now that I've heard these responses, it seems likely to me that it was the same father, and that he remarried, after his first wife died.
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Re Godparents;
Some babies are confirmed if thought to be in danger of death. So having being confirmed may not be the only requirement to be a Godparent.
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I have a husbands death 26/02/1919 and his widow remarrying 08/06/1919, he had left 3 children
I thought it surprisingly quick
Louisa Maud
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I know of a situation where the first wife had been very ill over a number of years and the woman who was to become the second wife nursed her and seems to have been in situ, so to speak, before she died, marrying the man about 8 months later. There were also small children involved there.
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There was no welfare for help back then...many remarried quite quick..some one had to care for the children
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I have a husbands death 26/02/1919 and his widow remarrying 08/06/1919, he had left 3 children
I thought it surprisingly quick
Louisa Maud
It may have been change in attitudes to mourning resulting from the war.
My knowledge of remarriage at that time is limited to radio drama serial "Home Front" which is meticulously researched. All 3 of the young women characters who were widowed during the war and left with small children married within a year. A combination of economic necessity, finding a good step-father, snapping up an eligible man from a depleted supply and not wasting time when so many lives had been cut short were all factors in those fictional cases.