Was he a bigamist?!

[Leah-WW]

I've had an unsolved mystery for a while, which I have always assumed would only be resolved by a trip to Nottingham archives (not something I can do at the drop of a hat), but on re-reading some papers sent to me by a potential Warriner relative, I am wondering if the answer has been staring me in the face since February, and whether it involves bigamy!

I have a Thomas WARRINER marrying an Ann COOPER in Saxilby, Lincs in April 1778. I know that these two people are my direct ancestors, but was unable to find Thomas' birth in the Lincolnshire records. With a bit of help from members here, I found his burial record, confirming that he was born 1745, and soon after found a Thomas WARRENER baptised in Tuxford, Notts, in November 1745. "Hurrah!" I thought. However.... the potential relative who wrote to me has a slightly different angle to his tree, involving Thomas WARRENER, born 1745 marrying Elizabeth FLOWER in Tuxford in July 1767. Thomas & Elizabeth have several children, including what appears to be their final child, Isaac, who was baptised in 1779.

The year of birth of the Thomas who married Elizabeth has been confirmed from the marriage bond, which gives his age in 1767 as 23.
The year of birth of the Thomas I found as being married to Ann in Saxilby has been confirmed from the record of his burial (he was aged 71 when he died in Saxilby in 1817).

I am going to go back to the Saxilby Parish records to double check if the marriage of Thomas & Ann COOPER was by banns or licence, and if by licence will check the allegation or bond to try to confirm this Thomas' age, but I'm starting to wonder if I have a bigamist on my hands! Tuxford is just over the Trent from Saxilby after all...

[Geoff-E]

The National Burial Index has a Thomas WARRINER buried at Tuxford 5 July 1821 age 78.

[bedfordshire boy]

So there's a Thomas baptised in Tuxford in 1745, a Thomas married age 23 in Tuxford in 1767 who went on to have a number of children in Tuxford and there's a Thomas who was buried in Tuxford in 1821 age 78. On the other hand there's a Thomas who was married in Saxilby, had children in Saxilby and who was buried in Saxilby in 1817 age 71.

Did the Saxilby marriage state Thomas of the parish of Tuxford? If not it's a big leap of faith to say that your Thomas is the one who was baptised in Tuxford when it's much more likely that the Tuxford Thomas is the one who was married and died there. Burial ages are notoriously unreliable, even more so than ages on marriage.

There are many Lincs parishes which aren't on the IGI or BVRI, or haven't been filmed by the LDS. You could find that his baptism is in one of the parishes that hasn't been filmed. I think it's more likely to be a baptism as yet not found, rather than bigamy in parishes only 10 miles apart.

Do the witnesses at the Saxilby marriage provide any clues?

David

[Geoff-E]

The Saxilby marriage is on FreeReg http://freereg.rootsweb.com/cgi/SearchResults.pl?RecordType=Marriages&RecordID=980090

[Leah-WW]

Thank-you for your input Geoff & David.

Since I posted my original message I found the record concerning Thomas Warriner of Saxilby's burial on FreeReg, which threw a bit of a spanner in the works as it gives his age at death as 76 in 1817, making him born in or around 1741. I therefore intend to go back to the original parish register/BT to check my original notes against the FreeReg transcription.

A bit more sleuthing in the Tuxford records has also lead me to believe that Thomas born Tuxford 1742, and Thomas born Tuxford 1745 may have been first cousins.

Though as Geoff pointed out, Thomas (1742) may have been born, lived and died in Tuxford in 1821, I haven't yet found a second burial record to confirm that Thomas (1745) stayed there.

I just wish I could get to either Nottingham or Retford easily to look at the original parish registers, which would probably solve my mysteries after a couple of hours!

[bedfordshire boy]

It's still an assumption that Thomas of Saxilby who married, lived, and died in Saxilby was from Tuxford

The NBI shows Thomas buried at Saxilby in 1817 to be 71. The NBI and FreeReg can't both be right!

Unfortunately Tuxford burials on the NBI only cover the period 1813-25 so I can't check to see if either of the Thomas's was buried. You didn't mention the second Thomas in 1842.

David

[Leah-WW]

I recall that the Saxilby marriage record said Thomas Warriner & Ann Cooper "of this parish", but as I understand it you only had to be resident in the parish for 3 weeks prior to the marriage (i.e. during the period in which the banns were read) to be classed as 'of this parish'. I couldn't find a baptism for a Thomas Warriner in the Saxilby registers when I looked, but am happy to be proven wrong, and as you said David, there are many more parishes in Lincolnshire (although I'm - perhaps understandably - loathed to check every single one!).

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to the archives I go...

[shadeofchloe]

Hi I think we could be related. I am part of that branch of the Warriners/Warreners! I found out that my 2X GG father was not his biological father and was in fact David Warriner/Warrener which has lead me as far back as Alice Innocent. I was just wondering if you have in your treee or know David Warrener (1884-1926)? He is my 2 x GG father and I found this out by suprise and did some sleuthing. He was (on the birth record) in the Lancashire Regiment and baptised his son with the mother of the baby under the pretence of them being married (even though they weren’t) and my 2 x GG took his step fathers last name “Coombes”.
I found this whole line of my family that I had no idea about by complete suprise and nobody seemed to know this information. Any help would be appreciated!