Hi Dundee!
Yes, it's a very tangled web. I can clear up some of this as I've been digging very deep since discovering John Beckman's existence a few days ago! It's been a very busy few days!
I'll post with a bit more detail shortly but to clear up the below discrepancies:
Henry and Marie divorced in 1890 and yes, Robert Forcus was the father of Marie’s two youngest sons, and the reason for the divorce! Marie and Henry’s children were Henrietta, Heinrich (died in childhood), Helena, Marie, Elsie, Anton (died in childhood), Annie, Henry and Carl. Eda, born between Annie and Henry, was understood by the Beckman’s to have not been Henry’s biological child and seems not to have been fully accepted as a Beckman by the family.
Marie left Beckman and had a child with Robert in 1887, whom she initially registered as Alfred Nottingham Forcus, with Robert as father, and a few months later, perhaps after a falling out with Robert, attempted to give Alfred legitimacy by registering the infant again, this time with the name Albert Petersen Beckman, listing her husband as the father, and Albert is the only name (most of) his family knew him by. Marie’s return to Ballarat with Alfred/Albert in tow was not welcomed however, and she returned to Robert, having another son with him in 1889 (Leslie Petersen Forcus Beckman).
And yes, Robert Beckman, Alfred Forcus/Fawcus and Albert Petersen are all the same person! Anna was my grandmother but they were not married in 1941, she was his common-law wife at that stage (they married in 1948) so the marriage date on Alfred’s enlistment papers was referring to his marriage to Gertrude.
They are definitely the same man. Same height, eye colour, vaccination scar, same parents, same marriage dates. And as OP mentioned, ‘her’ John Beckman went by many aliases! John Beckman’s military correspondence even show him using the name Albert, *and* A.N.Fawcus when you look closely, it almost feels like he was asking for someone to find him out!
So it seems we have discovered many of the same things in the last 24 hours! I hope this clears up some of the confusion, I’m piecing it all together rapidly but I’m confident the above is correct.
Was just about to post when I saw your response so clearing your questions up first, but will post more info below.
Henry and Marie divorced in 1890. Unfortunately the divorce papers are not digitised on PROV and Ancestry is missing the most relevant page in the middle of the document. Henry names his seven surviving children out of 9 (it was actually 8 out of 10, he forgot one of the daughters) and the youngest was son Carl born in 1883. The co-respondent was Robert FORCUS and from the rest of the document it looks like Marie started playing away from home around 1884.
She had two further sons, Albert Peterson BECKMANN in 1887, father not named, and Leslie Petersen Forcus BECKMAN in 1889, father named as Henry but this seems highly unlikely. Strangely there is another child registered in 1887....
20578 / 1887
FORCUS, Alfred Nottingham
Born Hotham
Mother: Mary BECKMAN
Father: Robert
FORCUS was later spelled FAWCUS. I can see a family tree for this child and they have a date of birth as 22 May 1887 from his WW2 enlistment. He died in 1964 at Ballaarat so do you think he is the same person as John BECKMAN?
Oh OK, in 1941 Alfred says he married his wife 'Anna' on 28 Jan 1914 and that is the same date that John BECKMAN married Maria Gertrude REIDY later COTTON. Alfred says he had previously served in Rabaul in the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) and that was where John BECKMAN served in WW1.
Talk about a tangled web.
Do you have any birth certs? I'm still wondering how Marie could have two children registered in 1887 if one was born in May.
Debra