George Bishop now aged 190!

[jillruss]

Can anyone help me find a death certificate for my gg grandfather George Bishop?

He was baptised in 1816 in Hedon and married Ann Barnett in Drypool, Hull in 1838. She was from Keyingham and that's where they were living with their family on the 1841 and 1851 censuses. He was an ag lab. The last sight I have of him is named on his daughter Charlotte's marriage certificate in 1852.

I've found his wife and family on the 1861 census - still in Keyingham - but there's no sign of him. Ann is described as married - not widowed, so where was he?

By the time of the 1871 census, Ann is described as a widow.

I did think a while back that I'd found him in Kings Lynn bigamously married to a Rebecca Felgate in 1856 as this George was also born in Hedon but there was another George Bishop baptised in Hedon in 1815 who I think was the cousin of MY George - and I'm pretty sure this is him.

I've found plenty of George Bishops in the Death Cert Indexes and even sent for a few which were in Yorkshire but there's absolutely no sign of him anywhere, so I'm beginning to think he's found the elixir of eternal life and is currently 190 years old!!   

Can anyone help - or suggest anything new to try? Finding him on the 1861 census (if he's still alive) would be a great help, but I've tried and failed!   

Jill

[suttontrust]

Can't help, but I did find a similar situation in a friend's tree.  Luckily she knew that the man had deserted his wife and daughter, but we couldn't find any trace of him after that, and I wondered whether he had changed his name to avoid his responsibilities.

[jillruss]

That had crossed my mind - particularly as there is a baptism for a child called James in 1858 which only gives Ann as the mother - no father. Surely, if the child was George's but he had died before the birth, she would have still acknowledged him as the father when she registered the birth?

Either Ann had 'played away' and George then left her to go who knows where, or George had died pre 1858 and Ann had the child by another (nameless) man.

Curioser and curioser!! 

Jill