I have a marriage allegation dated June 11, 1720, in which Lawrence Huggins alleges that he plans to marry Mary Peirce, the "natural and lawful daughter of George Peirce, widower, of HMS Dartmouth now in the Baltick Sea...." The word "widower" is inserted with a caret sign in this sentence. They plan to marry at St. Dunstan's Stepney.
In the following paragragh, a Richard Brown alleges that George Peirce is known to him personally, is presently on HMS Dartmouth in the Baltick Sea, and is a widower.
Now this is odd, because at this very moment, George has a wife, also named Mary, who is pregnant with their last child, Harvey Peirce, baptized at St. Dunstan's Nov. 15th, 1720. I have a marriage entry for George and Mary Harvey of 1720 at Holy Minories. Mary Harvey Peirce lives on until 1764, and refers to the daughter of the marriage of the Mary who married Lawrence Huggins as her granddaughter (in here will).
I know that the George Peirce who is the lawful and natural father, widower, was the boatswain on HMS Edinburgh when he died in 1730, and came to that ship from the Dartmouth. So I think I have the right cast of characters.
But what, in this context, could be the meaning of referring to him as a widower? I know relationship terms don't necessarily mean the same today as they did 300 years ago, but I'm having some trouble understanding what widower means in this context. Could this refer to an informal divorce? Could it mean that Mary is his daughter by a first marriage, and her mother is actually deceased, so George is a widower with respect to that marriage? The marriage allegation says that Mary is upward of Twenty (illegible) years. So it is somewhat unclear that she is actually the issue of the union of George Peirce and Mary Harvey Peirce (1700). Or, is this a marriage to which Mary Peirce's mother, wife of George, would not consent and did not know about?
