Name change?

[AW104]

Hi. I started researching my family tree a few years ago. I was getting frustrated and making silly mistakes.
I've decided to give it another go and start from the very beginning and do it thoroughly, using certificates rather than guess work.
I'm starting with my Nana, my mothers mother. She died 10 years ago. Just before she died she burned all her documents, birth certificate, marriage certificate etc to cover up her wrong doings she said.

Anyway, the story she told me was that she was called Veronica Doris MacAulay, born 1920 in Jarrow.
She married and had a son called Kenneth Alvin Hart (born 1942.died approx 2001) Kenneth's Dad was a bigamist according to her and was sent to prison.

Nana (now called Veronica Doris Hart) then remarried Thomas Henderson in 1949 (my grandad).

My problem is that Veronica Doris MacAulay seem to be 2 different people, Veronica born 1916 (died 1916) and Doris born 1920.

Hart was my nanas mothers maiden name, Rebecca (nanas mother) died in 1920 and my nana was brought up by her grandparents and I'm presuming she used her grandparents surname.
I'm not sure why she would use her dead sisters name (Veronica).
Family members (all now a little forgetful) seem to think that she was ashamed of her bigamous marriage (married as Doris) so used her sister Veronica's name afterwards.
Would it have been possible to do that?
I am hoping to order copies of birth/marriage certificates to see if I can find a clue. Where do I start? If anyone has any suggestions I'd be very grateful.
Ali.

[lizdb]

Im not seeing a Hart/McAuley marriage

And looking at Kenneths birth reg, it states mums maiden name Hart.

You also say Nana used the name Hart when she was brought up.
Where does the McAuley come in?

[sgf28]

Is this your Nana's death, gives a date of birth for her which may be helpful:

Veronica Doris Henderson
Dob 14th April 1920

Died 1Q 2001
Redcar & Cleveland
3491B
044

[jim1]

Rebecca MacAulay died 1920 aged 24.

[lizdb]

Marriage
Oct/Nov/Dec 1913
Stockton ref 10a 181
Rebecca HArt / Thomas Macaulay

Birth
Ap/May/Jun 1916
South Shields ref 10a 1686
Veronica Macauley mmn Hart

Birth
Ap/May/Jun 1920
South Shields ref 10a 2147
Doris Macauley mmn Hart

Birth
Jul/Aug/Sep 1942
Durham ref 10a 91
Kenneth A Hart mmn Hart

Did she actually marry Kenneth's Dad?

Or, was having a child out of wedlock, by a man who may have been related, the secret she wanted to forget?

btw, there is no reason why she couldnt have decoded to call herself Veronica if she wanted - one can call oneself whatever one wants, quite legally, unless there is intention to fraud.

[Annette7]

Think your first certificate needs to be the birth of Kenneth Alvin Hart to establish if a fathers name is given and also what Christian names his mother was using then.   As already mentioned, he was born a Hart and mmn is also given as Hart.

Annette

[AW104]

Thanks for the replies.
Yes, that's my Nana's death details.
Also the dates for MacAulays are the ones i had too. I vaguely remember doing a family tree at school and that was the name she told me she was born with.
I agree, i definitely need Kenneth's birth certificate. I'm not sure whether she married his father, he was the alleged bigamist.
How odd that having a child to a relative is mentioned, my aunt said a very similar thing yesterday and i dismissed it as malicious gossip. My aunt and Nana never got on...step-mother and daughter!I think i need to dig a little deeper on that one.
I have ordered Kenneth's birth certificate and her marriage certificate (to Henderson) to see what name she was using then and to confirm the MacAulay parents.
Thanks again.
Ali.

[lizdb]

What was Kenneths Dads name? (or are we awaiting birth cert to find out).  I guess we have to be careful as he could still be alive.


It does occur to me if the secret, and the reason for imprisonment, maybe could be incest rather than bigamy. 
I cant see how bigamy would mar Veronica Doris's life to be such a secret,  if she was never married to the man, thus never a direct victim of the bigamy.

Or, alternatively, and probably more likely, it is just that she had a baby out of wedlock (Kenneth) and the father is not recorded (thus surname Hart that she was using, and mmn Hart as she was unammried) , thus the father not a Hart at all, and nothing untoward has occurred (beyond that of having an illegitiamte child). When she did marry, to Henderson, she married as Hart because that is what she was using. Will be interesting to see if she describes herself as spinster, widowed or previous marriage dissolved on that cert.

We may be making too much drama!

[Chasing-fireflies]

Does anyone have these details yet? Apologies if they do, just catching up:
Births Jun 1920   
Macaulay    Doris    Hart    S.Shields    10a   2147