Emigration/naturalization of William Foster a.k.a. William J. Dempsey

[TreeDigger]

William's marriage record in 1921 indicates he is a seaman...

That's William born 1898 again. This one is..

1th January 1921 St Thomas, Walton on the Hill
William Foster, 20 yrs Barman, 7 Robertson Street, father Thomas (deceased), labourer
Elizabeth Howard, 29 yrs, 38 Robertson Street, father, James Howard, labourer
Witnesses : George Burton and Agnes Foster

So it's two Williams crossing the ocean, because 'my' William was part of the crew in the engine department on board the 'Belgic' in 1919.

[eileenwilson]

Thanks for keeping it all straight.  They were obviously living together as man and wife (as per the 1925 census) so perhaps she was terminally ill and he married her just before she died to make an honest woman of her?  Or perhaps he only received his divorce from England and was only able to marry the second time at that point, and the death is just coincidental??

[TreeDigger]

"She died four days after their marriage"

Uh oh, that sounds like a George Joseph Smith type situation.

Wellll.. I'm trying to rule out the 'bigamy' part of that equation, but I haven't found any divorce papers yet for wife #1.

What does get me though is how the whole family is Irish oriented due to all the stories he obviously told them. Surely wife #3 must've known about him finally giving his correct place of birth on his draft card.. did he come clean with her but not the kids? Bit of a sad aspect.

[TreeDigger]

They were obviously living together as man and wife (as per the 1925 census) so perhaps she was terminally ill and he married her just before she died to make an honest woman of her?  Or perhaps he only received his divorce from England and was only able to marry the second time at that point, and the death is just coincidental??

I thought about that as well, the 'terminal' part. Perhaps he was a boarder with her parents and they met like that, it's what happened with my 2x gr.grandfather and his wife (though they didn't get married until after kid #3).

[eileenwilson]

Well, my great-grandfather never mentioned it to his second family ... we knew but they didn't....

BTW, I think there are TWO William Fosters working aboard ships in the timeframe of roughly the same age between 1921 and 1925 with one working in the kitchen (assistant cook) and the other as a trimmer (moving coal around).  The cook is 5'6" and 120 lbs.  The trimmer/oiler is 5'9 and 160 lbs.

[Lisa in California]

Consider myself intrigued .....

The very reason for my continued search 

Thank you for the newspaper link wrt Adeline. She died four days after their marriage; I wonder what that story is all about.

I’m trying to read this as family is talking so I’m not following all of the details, but…

Would it be possible to find out if there were other deaths in the area around the same time?  Perhaps she unexpectedly caught something?

[eileenwilson]

Consider myself intrigued .....

The very reason for my continued search 

Thank you for the newspaper link wrt Adeline. She died four days after their marriage; I wonder what that story is all about.

I’m trying to read this as family is talking so I’m not following all of the details, but…

Would it be possible to find out if there were other deaths in the area around the same time?  Perhaps she unexpectedly caught something?

I've checked in Newspapers.com and not seen anything noted.

[TreeDigger]

Would it be possible to find out if there were other deaths in the area around the same time?  Perhaps she unexpectedly caught something?

Good point! But I just did a Google search for September 1925 in Hempstead, Nassau for 'epidemic', 'flu' and 'disease', and nothing really jumped out.

[TreeDigger]

I've checked in Newspapers.com and not seen anything noted.

Could you see whether that site has announcements for William's marriage to both Adeline A Sanders (06 Sep 1925, Roosevelt NY) and Alma Denton (01 Sep 1928, Freeport NY) ? I'm really curious whether there is more information there.