I have been searching Gales Newspapers today, concentrating on my Purkis family in Portsea.
I have got to 1878 and have found what I have been looking for re. William John Purkis, the brother of my great-grandfather.
"Serious Charge of Bigamy against a Portsmouth Man"
In 1891 he was in Strangeways prison and I always wondered what he had done. He emigrated to the USA after his release.
I found that he had married Elizabeth Harriet Crassweller in 1872 and they had a child, but it appears that he married Elizabeth Ann Garden in 1877!!
The Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle report on the charge of bigamy in 1878 - off to look for the court case now! His poor family, devasting for his parents, not to mention his wife (who thereafter called herself "widow").
I have got to 1878 and have found what I have been looking for re. William John Purkis, the brother of my great-grandfather.
"Serious Charge of Bigamy against a Portsmouth Man"
In 1891 he was in Strangeways prison and I always wondered what he had done. He emigrated to the USA after his release.
I found that he had married Elizabeth Harriet Crassweller in 1872 and they had a child, but it appears that he married Elizabeth Ann Garden in 1877!!
The Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle report on the charge of bigamy in 1878 - off to look for the court case now! His poor family, devasting for his parents, not to mention his wife (who thereafter called herself "widow").
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