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I am looking for the marriage of Henry Abbott/Abbit and Mary Coleman in Witham in late 1773.

Their son Thomas Abbit (b 1777, Witham) married Esther Monteith (b 1798, Witham) before 1837.

I can trace no Monteiths in Witham in the census records from 1851 onwards, although I know of two female Monteiths - Mary & Hannah Maria - born there in 1808 and 1831 respectively.

Any information re: Henry, Thomas or Esther gratefully received!

Many thanks for that information - I have a situation with my own family where my great grandfather Abbott left his first wife (nee Halcrow) and their 6 children around 1895, in order to marry my great grandmother (King nee Davies). I have a marriage certificate for them, so they did indeed go through a marriage ceremony. The families lived in Islington and Hackney.

However, my elderly mother assures me that for "poor people" - which my ancestors were - a divorce would have been out of the question - too expensive and difficult for ordinary folk. She believes that the marriage was bigamous, and there is some cirucmstantial evidence for this. My g-grandfather returned to his first wife - and the whole family took her maiden name of Halcrow - between begetting my grandfather (Abbott, aka King) in 1899 and the 1901 Census. At the same time, my g-grandmother reverted to her previous married name of King, and re-named all her Abbott children to King by 1901.

Is there any way I can find out if a divorce actually took place?