Alan was mistranscribed as Etton. So was John Elton. Were the errors on the original forms?
Is there a possibility that his name
was actually Etton?
I wonder if he was trying to hide something and fibbed about Montreal?
Another possibility, was the family actually from a small town somewhat near Montreal?
Alan married when he was in his 40’s. I wonder if that was his first marriage and if not was he still married to someone else?
Isabel Campbell is my great grandmother. My great grandfather died in SA not long after Isabel's arrival and she was pregnant with my grandfather when she returned to the UK in December.
We only know that Alan existed because we have his medals alongside my great grandfather's (a civilian boar war medal). Him being married to my great grandmother came as quite a shock to my family. I can’t find any divorce records, so I presume they must have stayed married until he died? Despite neither of them seemingly saying anything and living on different continents.
Was the marriage a secret due to Alan possibly having another family - possibly in SA, Alan hiding something from his past, due to private reasons (that she didn’t want to tell her family) by Isabel, or for some other reason? Having posed the questions, I would still bet that your great grandfather was a respectable man and quite possibly we just haven’t yet found Canadian documents.
Added: perhaps Alan wanted Isabel to remain with him but she missed “home” yet didn’t want a divorce, hence their separate lives.
