The marriage register for the parish church of West Hackney has the record of a marriage between Lemuel Voss and Susan Brown on 22 feb 1863. The bride has signed, the groom has made his mark and the two witnesses (William and Mary Ann Brown) have also made their marks. But then the record has been crossed through and "cancelled" written across it. The marriage doesn't appear on FreeBMD so must have been cancelled before records were sent up to registrar.
In 1871 Lemuel is with Susan (described as wife) and four children: William Henry 7, Matilda 6, Harry 3 and Rose 2 in Acton. Also with them is Edwin Brown, described as brother.
I can't find Matilda's birth registration, but the other three have been registered as Voss with mother's maiden name Brown as if the couple were married.
In 1876, banns were read in St Paul's Hammersmith for Lemuel Voss (B) and Susan Brown (S) on 6th, 13th and 20th February, but it seems no marriage took place. Familysearch has a transcript of a marriage on 20 Feb at St Paul's but there is no record in the register.
Susan Voss died in 1877 aged 36. Lemuel remarried in Enfield as a widower on 2 March 1879 to Sarah Charlotte Hayward (widow - nee Wade).
Can anyone think of a reason why Lemuel and Susan's marriage should be marked cancelled? Both were of age (The witnesses look like they were her parents). I cannot find any evidence of a previous marriage for either. If there was a technicality which made the marriage void, surely they would have married properly again straight away rather than leave it 13 years to start the process then not go through with it. This is really puzzling me!
