Author Topic: Co-habiting/ family mystery  (Read 1138 times)

Offline brigidmac

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Re: Co-habiting/ family mystery
« Reply #9 on: Tuesday 28 February 23 13:18 GMT (UK) »
Out of interest Was it illegal to marry dead husband's brother in the 1950.s
Is it now

A lot of these rules were are  to prevent births being too closely related
I wonder if there are different rules if the woman is past child bearing age .

I have 1 example of remarriage where first husband was in an asylum where he remained for 20 years until death
I suppose the wife could marry legally if sh claimed he'd been missing for more than 7 years
Roberts,Fellman.Macdermid smith jones,Bloch,Irvine,Hallis Stevenson

Offline AntonyMMM

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Re: Co-habiting/ family mystery
« Reply #10 on: Tuesday 28 February 23 13:29 GMT (UK) »
Out of interest Was it illegal to marry dead husband's brother in the 1950.s  No
Is it now  No
(Deceased Brother's Widow's Marriage Act 1921)

A lot of these rules were are  to prevent births being too closely related
I wonder if there are different rules if the woman is past child bearing age .  No - they are the same

I have 1 example of remarriage where first husband was in an asylum where he remained for 20 years until death
I suppose the wife could marry legally if sh claimed he'd been missing for more than 7 years
No she couldn't ( assuming that she knew he was in the asylum)

Offline brigidmac

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Re: Co-habiting/ family mystery
« Reply #11 on: Wednesday 01 March 23 00:50 GMT (UK) »
If she knew he was in  asylum it would be illegal but if she had declared him missing it would be legal ..

How many remarriages have genealogists found where wife genuinely didn't know where errant husband was or vice versa
Roberts,Fellman.Macdermid smith jones,Bloch,Irvine,Hallis Stevenson

Offline jbml

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Re: Co-habiting/ family mystery
« Reply #12 on: Wednesday 01 March 23 12:21 GMT (UK) »
My most tangled family line is largely the result of just such a marriage.

My great x3 grandmother abandoned my great x3 grandfather and his children in 1860, and after the birth of their last child on 1 January 1861 and the subsequent registration of his birth (she was pregnant when she left him) she just disappears from the record. I have no idea where she went, or when she died, and neither I am sure did he.

He had children to look after and needed a wife ... so he found one and married her under a different name. And had a further six children.

The records from that time on are full of suprious entries as to place of birth which i am sure were part of the attempts to conceal his true identity and have led us all a merry dance (not helped by a mistranscription of a GENUINE place of birth which I believe was probably recorded on the census return as "Som. Taunton" but transcribed on the schedule as "Southampton", with "Hants" added for good measure ... ); and there are completely spurious stories circulating in the family as to the origin of the new name which many have attempted to investigate, but obviously without any success ...
All identified names up to and including my great x5 grandparents: Abbot Andrews Baker Blenc(h)ow Brothers Burrows Chambers Clifton Cornwell Escott Fisher Foster Frost Giddins Groom Hardwick Harris Hart Hayho(e) Herman Holcomb(e) Holmes Hurley King-Spooner Martindale Mason Mitchell Murphy Neves Oakey Packman Palmer Peabody Pearce Pettit(t) Piper Pottenger Pound Purkis Rackliff(e) Richardson Scotford Sherman Sinden Snear Southam Spooner Stephenson Varing Weatherley Webb Whitney Wiles Wright


Offline BSmith2268

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Re: Co-habiting/ family mystery
« Reply #13 on: Wednesday 01 March 23 19:59 GMT (UK) »
Thank you all for your responses.

I wasn't sure how to reply individually, so I thought I would put a general message on here.
Thank you all for suggestions. It was also fascinating to hear personal family stories and research about co-habiting/ bigamy/ second families.

As jbml and maddys52 suggested, the late marriage must've been due to ensuring my x3 great grandmother got her widow's pension, through the proof of a legal marriage.
I've encountered co-habiting in a few other ancestors, but never this particular scenario.
I do wonder if my x3 great grandfather also had children with this wife back in Ireland, but I'm not sure if I'll ever find that out!

BSmith
Smith- Neath, Glamorgan/ Witney, Oxfordshire
Roberts- Llandow/ St Donats, Glamorgan
Hopkins- Tonmawr, Glamorgan/ Llanelli, Carmarthenshire
Emanuel- Briton Ferry, Glamorgan
Broom- Neath, Glamorgan/ Oare, Somerset, Ilfracombe, Devon

Madden- Aberavon, Glamorgan/ Cork, IRELAND
Price- Tonmawr, Glamorgan/ Brecknockshire
Davies- Morriston, Glamorgan/ Gower, Glamorgan
Price- Fochriw, Glamorgan
Parker- Neath, Glamorgan
Waters- Aberavon, Glam, Cork, IRELAND
Gleeson- Limerick, IRELAND
Watkins- Breconshire

Offline heywood

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Re: Co-habiting/ family mystery
« Reply #14 on: Wednesday 01 March 23 20:49 GMT (UK) »
You could try searching here for a marriage and then children
https://www.irishgenealogy.ie/en/
Census Information is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk