Reasons for not getting married

[Chris1969]

Can anyone suggest a reason why my gt-gt-grandparents would not have married until after the birth of their fourth child (in 1886). They give themselves as man & wife in the 1881 census, and appear as bachelor and spinster on their marriage certificate.

Thanks

Chris

[peterbennett]

Hi Chris
           I might be diging my own grave here but the reasons for not getting married are to numerous to mention. The reason they got married would proberbly be pressure from the female side  

No personel replies please ( the wifes watching)

peterbennett

 

[suey]

I think you can only speculate - perhaps they just decided after four children that they ought to make things 'legal'.

One set of my G Grandparents married when their child was 4 years old and as far as I am aware they had no more children.

Another set never married at all but had 11 children  

Suey

[Chris1969]

I suppose that is reasonable. It's just that its the first occurance of this in my tree. They went on to have at least 3 more children.

By the way, in case it means anything to anyone, their names were Walter Wells & Ada Brett (and I can't find any trace of her birth either)

Chris

[Sylviaann]

It is possible that they were her children and not his.  Do you have the birth certificates for the earlier children?  I did wonder if dshe had been married previously but said she was a spinster.  Complicated isn't it!

Sylviaann

[Chris1969]

This is what I have in date order

Arnold Harris Wells b. 6/3/1881, father Walter Wells, mother Ada Wells formerly Brett

1881 Census Walter Wells (Head) Ada Wells (wife) Arnold Wells (Son)

Valentine Walter Wells b. 14/2/1886, father Walter Wells, mother Ada Wells formerly Brett

Marriage 4/7/1886 Walter Wells, bachelor, Ada Brett, spinster (father Frederick Brett)

I did wonder if she could have been married before and her first husband did not die until 1886, though she had clearly been with Walter since 1880.

As you can imagine I spent a lot of fruitless time looking for the marriage working back from 1881. If it hadn't been for FreeBMD I'd never have found it.


Chris

[peterbennett]

Hi Chris
You dont say which area your family are in there may be someone who could search an earlier census for you.
please post again with the details.

peterbennett

[jaq]

i've got a similar entry from 1881 which had me guessing for quite a while, my greatmother Ellen V. Manning aged 9 years old here:

Ellen MANNING
            U    30    Female Hopton, Suffolk, England
      Rel: Head
      Occ: Housekeeper
Henry MANNING
                 13    Male   Lound, Suffolk, England
      Rel: Son
      Occ: Ag Lab
Ellen V. MANNING
                 9     Female Lound, Suffolk, England
      Rel: Daur
      Occ: Scholar
James MANNING
                 7     Male   Lound, Suffolk, England
      Rel: Son
      Occ: Scholar
Harriet MANNING
                 4     Female Lound, Suffolk, England
      Rel: Daur
      Occ: Scholar
Edward MANNING
                 1     Male   Lound, Suffolk, England
      Rel: Son
Charles WRIGHT
                 13    Male   Lound, Suffolk, England
      Rel: Boarder
      Occ: Scholar
Mary WRIGHT
                 11    Female Lound, Suffolk, England
      Rel: Boarder
      Occ: Scholar."

age 30 and unmarried with 5 children to care for- two with different surnames!   turns out Ellen Maria [Ellen v.'s mother] married a Mr wright in 1883.
 Ellen Victoria Manning had Henry wright as father on marriage cert...why? maybe we'll never know.
jaq

[ryan]

Hi!
I have made a similar discovery:

My GGG Grandparents, George Matthews and Eliza Jane Hart married in Exeter in 1888. However, Eliza had previously given birth to George's three daughters; Bessie (b. 1874), Grace (b. 1870) and my GG Grandmother Rebecca Ann (b. 1867). Grace and Bessie were christened under the surname 'Matthews', although Rebecca was christened under the surname 'Hart', from her mother's side of the family of course.
Still, I wonder why this occurred?

Good luck with your research!