Strange marriage antics...

[avj]

Hi,

Can anyone help figure out what one of my ancestors was up to, please.
I can't make up my mind whether he was winding up the enumerator or me!

Adam Hobbs b between 1823 and 1829 in Bewdley(depending on which census you look at) and living in Bewdley...

in 1861 he was married to Eliza (b 1829 Upper Arley)
in 1871 he was married to Ann (b 1831 Pound Green)...so far so good
in 1881 he was married to Eliza (b 1830 Bewdley)...again?
in 1891 he was married to Ann (b 1828, Bewdley)...again??

Did he have a fixation with the names Ann and Eliza and marry 4 times?

Or was he so forgetful of his wifes name, that it changed each time?

Any help finding who she actually was would be much appreciated.

Adrian

[northern_rose]

How about the suggestion that Eliza and Ann are the same people? i.e. he only had one wife.

In my tree it has been common for people to be known by their first name and then 10 years later by their middle name. The dates seem close enough to be the same person perhaps with a birthday around census time?

As to the birthplaces - I don't know the area to comment if they could be the same place? I have people who say they were born in completely different places 10 years apart - I have put this down to them being born in one place and brought up in another. Infact my own father has lied on every census return, as we recently discovered he was born in the neighbouring village to the one we had always thought (we had never really looked at his birth cert)!!

Have you tried looking for marriage and death certs?

Good luck!

[smeghead]

This is most likely the same wife whose name was Elizabeth Ann this happens alot in the census know by first middle and even nick names depending who was giving the information to the person recording the census

                                                                  Jim

[Taidquest]

from personal experience i think the assumption
that the wifes name was eliza or elizabeth ann
is correct and  probably called after her mother
hence using the second name ann to avoid confusion,
thus causing even more confusion

[philheeks]

the best thing you can do is get the marriage cert & the death cert for the wife & this should tell you her name/names at both marriage & death which should (I reckon) give you the answer that Ann & Eliza were one & the same - this has happened in my tree by the way & it throws you at the time.

Hope it works out for you

All the very best

Phil
Weston-super-Mare