Bigamous marriages

[aghadowey]

Possibly reported in local newspaper but you would probably need to have an idea of when it would have been reported.

[1pds]

I'll ask my relative if he can remember a date...

[Colin Cruddace]

From the scant information available, I would think the first thing to do would be to get a copy of the marriage cert to confirm that one or other was a widower/widow, and then trace them back to find a first marriage.

I think that many bigamous marriages were done in good faith (or made to look that way) where they hade been separated from their first spouse for over 7 years and had no way of knowing if they were still alive. Then, if the first spouse was found to be still alive, it would automatically result in the second marriage being annulled and made void.

Colin

[stanmapstone]

Does anyone know if there are records to show that such a union was annulled? 
Phil.

The marriage could not be anulled as it would be void. A  void marriage has never come into real existence because of some fundamental legal defect, in this case an existing previous marriage.

Stan

[1pds]

Thanks Colin.  I'll order the certificates this week.

[1pds]

Thanks Stan, that backs-up what Little Nell posted yesterday.