Joseph Lawton Irregular Marriage? in Edinburgh in 1923

[vicky19]

I'm researching Joseph Aloysius Lawton and I think I may have found two marriages for him in two years and it was not because his first wife died. His first marriage was to Agnes E Griffiths in 1922 in St Andrew Edinburgh, then the second one was in 1923 to Eliza I Q Daniels in St Bernard Edinburgh and Joseph's age and his parents on both references are the same but there is a comment in the 6th column on his second marriage which I don't understand...."extant decree of declarator dated 28 jun 1923 in the court of session", I've not researched much Scottish records before and definitely not come across this before... why would you have this on your marriage record? ... does this mean the second marriage was irregular and if so what does this mean? Could this be a divorce from the first wife? Many Thanks Vicky

[ScottishAncestry]

Hi Vicky,

There are a couple of possibilities here. I believe that Eliza was trying to prove that she was married to Joseph by ‘cohabitation with habit and repute’. This could have been to legitimise a child or to receive aliment from Joseph. To be honest this is not common.

What does it say in the column, ‘By who, when and where married’?

The National Records of Scotland has catalogued documents relating to this case: http://www.rootschat.com/links/01fbp/ and http://www.rootschat.com/links/01fbq/ It is very likely that these documents would help make this situation much clearer.

Do you know what happened to Agnes Griffiths?

Emma

[vicky19]

Hi Emma, thanks, it just says 31 Gayfield Square Edinburgh, there is no name of who performed the ceremony just (see column 6).

Well that's the thing because Joseph and Agnes Lawton had a child born in 1932 in Glasgow, on his certificate it states both of them as parents. Agnes then apparently leaves Joseph in about 1935 ish and moves back to England where her family is. I'm trying to work out if the Josephs on the marriage are the same man, their occupation (commercial traveller) and parents are the same but....I'm still not 100% sure.  I've also found a death reference for a Joseph Aloysius Lawton in 1961 in Glasgow who was married to Eliza Daniels. It's possible he had two families.... I've not yet looked for children between Joseph and Eliza.

Vicky

[RJ_Paton]

If the two men are one and the same  and the first marriage was lawful etc. That marriage would have had to have ended before  Eliza could prove any form of legally recognised marriage (whether this was the "irregular" cohabitation by habit & repute or the more "regular" formal act of marriage) as any union formed whilst the first marriage was in existence  would have been bigamous.
It is extremely unlikely that any court would condone Bigamy by validating any second marriage although they would grant financial assistance for any child of the union.

[vicky19]

I know it's an odd one, but what are the chances of two Joseph Aloysius Lawtons, I've only found one in the birth references for England (of the right age)where we believe he's from and the to have two sets parents with the same names..... Or he divorced he first wife but actually went back to her at some point...son was born she left himso he went back to second wife...... Who knows.... Gotta love a mystery... Vicky

[RJ_Paton]

The court papers unearthed by ScottishAncestry may provide some answers.

The first look like maintence claims the second set  http://www.rootschat.com/links/01fbq/ look more interesting as they appear to be those concerning the validity of any marriage

[RJ_Paton]

I know it's an odd one, but what are the chances of two Joseph Aloysius Lawtons, I've only found one in the birth references for England (of the right age)where we believe he's from and the to have two sets parents with the same names.....

very slim (although never say impossible    )

Or he divorced he first wife but actually went back to her at some point...son was born she left himso he went back to second wife...... Who knows.... Gotta love a mystery... Vicky

The problem is that divorce takes time and the timeline here doesn't really have that flexibility.

[vicky19]

Thank you Falkryn, I will have a look at those. V

[ScottishAncestry]

I agree with Falkyrn, there is not enough time for a divorce. Also there is an index to divorces from 1835 to 1934 contained within the NRS catalogue and none appears to exist for Joseph.

Have you looked at the certificate of the first marriage? Is there an RCE? Also, on the birth of the child born in 1932 does it give a date and place of parents’ marriage?

Theoretically the court may have decreed that Joseph and Eliza were married not knowing about the first marriage, just as a minister may have married a couple not knowing one or both parties were committing bigamy.

I think the answer lies in the court papers, do you have access to the NRS? We’ll be in later this month and I would be happy to take a look for you.

Emma