Were your bigamists discreet?

[Lindsay]

Having possibly come across my first bigamist in OH's tree, I wondered if the way she behaved was typical?

Even before she and her new chap got hitched (about twenty years after they first got together - and yes, her husband was still alive!) she seems to have tried to hide her true identity - sometimes using another first name, giving a subtley different maiden name on her children's birth certs, and, when they did finally marry, changing her father's name completely.

Of course, I might be wrong and there's an innocent explanation for all this, but I can't think of one! It gives me the rather sad picture of a woman who left her husband and 2 oldest children, possibly taking the third (still a baby)with her, and spent the next forty years in fear of being found out.

Was this typical or did most people just carry on as normal?

[KiteRunner]

My great-grandmother gave a complete set of false details on her bigamous marriage cert, only her first name being true. The false middle name and maiden name also appear on her child's birth cert and the false name and age on her death cert.

[Elizabeth Herts]

I have one bigamist in my tree, with a couple of nice juicy court cases. He went to prison twice for bigamy - he obviously wasn't deterred the first time!

My mum obviously never knew of it, as it happened before her father's birth. However, it was my great-grandfather's brother and it must have caused heartache to an otherwise respectable family.

It seems he wasn't discreet at all! Although he did go to another part of the country the second time around. I suppose he thought they wouldn't know him there.

[Little Nell]

Maybe her husband threw her out and she had no choice in seeing her older children.

Women didn't have any rights to their children, they were considered to be the property of their father.

[Lindsay]

You could be right, Nell.

I also wondered if the 3rd child which she possibly took with her wasn't her husband's, although he was registered as the father.

At the time it must have been awful for all concerned but dare I say, it's the sort of thing that makes family history interesting!

[Uncle John]

Totally invisible! Some of you may remember looking for Charles James Villiers who arrived from Mars in 1904, married my great-aunt Marie Bilger and then disappeared again. I have a possible sighting of her in 1911 in her maiden name. Her death was registered by her nephew in her married name. I got the marriage certificate with no problems, so I guess that he committed bigamy with someone else. I have no idea what other aliases he used.

[Olde Crone Holden]

I heard a story about a woman who was divorced in the 1920s, for adultery. Her husband got the children, despite her father offering to be their "proper" guardian. (Mother considered morally unfit of course)

As soon as the divorce was finalised, hubby put the children in a home and then signed papers for them to be sent to Australia. She never saw them again and possibly didn't even know they had gone to Australia.

OC

[TrevorFranklin]

I have one in my tree, but will not give name, as there are still living children.

He married just before the birth of a child, 1 year later on 1911 census he is at a different address to his wife.
She is at parents, using maiden name, but child is using his surname. She states married.

1915, Military records have him signing up, but using a different first name to his registered name, he does declare he is seperated, giving his wife and child details.
One year later, she is married again, he married 10 years later, on cert he states bachelor.

I have found from grandchild from first marriage, that the child was brought up thinking was mothers youngest sibling and not child.
child from second marriage knew nothing about previous marriage of father, nor that there was a half-sibling.

[Buttercup]

I heard a story about a woman who was divorced in the 1920s, for adultery. Her husband got the children, despite her father offering to be their "proper" guardian. (Mother considered morally unfit of course)

As soon as the divorce was finalised, hubby put the children in a home and then signed papers for them to be sent to Australia. She never saw them again and possibly didn't even know they had gone to Australia.

OC

:( I hope he never had another peaceful moment - That is desperately sad

[KiwiChris]

My gg-grandmother lived apart from her husband and with another man, it seems to have been quite open, on one census she is the head of he household and the relationship of her partner is "consort". Lol

There are a number of children, the older ones registered with her husbands name and a couple of the younger ones with the name of the consort. I don't have any of the certificates, but I suspect that most of them are his children going by the dates and information on a couple of census.

She, the consort and children came to New Zealand in the 1870s and lived here as man and wife, all the children being known by his name.
Before the ship had even arrived in NZ her husband married the woman named as his housekeeper on the previous census. There were a number of children involved there as well, on the baptism of one of them the vicar helpfully noted the name of the husband as the father of the child with a note to say that "his wife is co-habiting with another man".

I can't find a marriage for gg-grandma and the consort so I don't think that she was a bigamist, but her husband certainly was.

[Harrys mum]

My grandmother and her husband were seperated and Gran took the baby with her. She and my Grandfather got together and did not marry till 1955. Mum was born to them in 1929.

I cannot find any divorce for Gran and her first husband lived till the 1980s.

Her first husband remained a horrid man all his life and even the children Gran had to leave with him (He had money) forgave her and treated her as their mother when they were in their 70s.

I'm still looking for a divorce.

[Helen Smith Too]

I'm 99% certain that there is a bigamist in OH's tree. This fellow legged it to Canada with his wife's cousin, leaving a pregnant wife back home in Norfolk.
SHE remarried about 10 years later, with her absentee husband 'presumed dead' on the marriage cert.
HE had married the cousin in Canada several days before the child was born back in Norfolk.

[Olde Crone Holden]

KiwiChris

there WAS a get-out clause, where one spouse had gone abroad. The church took the view that the marriage bonds had been severed and the "innocent" party was free to marry.

What does it say for his condition on remarriage?

(I have also discovered that some public funds were available for divorces in the 1800s and divorces were sometimes funded by the CHURCH, lol)

OC

[Night Owl]

Mine was far from discreet but I feel sorry for her.

She had "surrendered herself" to the police because she had been married for 2 years even though she was already married. However she thought she was entitled to remarry because her first husband was "a lunatic inmate of an asylum" and had been for 27 years. It had apparently preyed on her mind so she went to a solicitor and he advised her to give herself up.

Ironically she was cleared because the police were unable to find evidence of the first marriage. "The magistrate directed the prisoner to be discharged and she left the court with the second husband"

[MarionH]

This is a subject very close to my heart at the moment. I have been trying to trace my grandfather in the 1911 census - and kept coming up with a blank - apart from one that seemed to fit the bill. Trouble was the one I found was married with two children - (married in 1903) - my grandfather didn't marry my grandmother until 1913.

Since then I have been hunting high and low to try and prove the two people are not one and the same - so far I have had no success whatsover. Not only has this become a major brick wall it is also very personal as I adored my grandfather - he was the simplest sweetest soul of all times!!

At the moment it would seem I am faced with bigamy in the family, although I am positive that cannot be the case and am doing my darndest to disprove it - I don't think I would have minded as much about it all had I not known him!!

[Mystic]

One of OH's grandparents was said to be a bigamist. He spent alot of time away from his home and did little to support his family. I have been told that he was shunned by his parents and family because of his actions, and it maybe possible he even went to jail for what he did. I know that he has several alias' that he went by; it seems his possible actions were to be common knowledge through out the family. As yet have not been able to confirm any of the alegations.....

[Buttercup]

This is a subject very close to my heart at the moment. I have been trying to trace my grandfather in the 1911 census - and kept coming up with a blank - apart from one that seemed to fit the bill. Trouble was the one I found was married with two children - (married in 1903) - my grandfather didn't marry my grandmother until 1913.

Since then I have been hunting high and low to try and prove the two people are not one and the same - so far I have had no success whatsover. Not only has this become a major brick wall it is also very personal as I adored my grandfather - he was the simplest sweetest soul of all times!!

At the moment it would seem I am faced with bigamy in the family, although I am positive that cannot be the case and am doing my darndest to disprove it - I don't think I would have minded as much about it all had I not known him!!

Hi Marion - I don't think this should cloud your memories of your lovely Granddad. It's very difficult for us nowadays to understand why people did what they did 100 years ago and you may never know what his reasons were. There were probably dozens of reasons why (just like today) people walked away from relationships but today there are no stigmas unlike then when they were so many including jail It's sad if there were kids involved. Good luck in your search but keep your memories intact.

[MarionH]

Hi Marion - I don't think this should cloud your memories of your lovely Granddad. It's very difficult for us nowadays to understand why people did what they did 100 years ago and you may never know what his reasons were. There were probably dozens of reasons why (just like today) people walked away from relationships but today there are no stigmas unlike then when they were so many including jail It's sad if there were kids involved. Good luck in your search but keep your memories intact.

Thanks Buttercup - I shall still hold my memories of him close to my heart - it just seems so incongruous - he was a simple country type man, married my Nan in Dorset in 1913, had four children ending with my mother in 1920 - yet this "other" George married in Wincanton in 1903, had at least four children by her - the last in 1920!!!! That is why I am convinced there has to be another explanation - travelling around wasn't quite as easy in those days and his occupation didn't take him around the countryside!

The other thing that seems weird is the fact that his parents (well certainly his mother and possibly his father) were actually at the wedding in 1913 - surely they wouldn't have attended if their son had already been married, or was even still married, to another woman!!!

He will still be loved by me - I have the dolls house, the wooden horse, the walking dog and the windmill all made by him - so whatever the outcome it won't change that - I just feel a little confused - so I can well imagine how someone feels when they suddenly find out their world has moved a little and the ground beneath them shifted due to the fact that one of their close family has reinvented the truth!!!!

Marion

[Buttercup]

Thanks Buttercup - I shall still hold my memories of him close to my heart - it just seems so incongruous - he was a simple country type man, married my Nan in Dorset in 1913, had four children ending with my mother in 1920 - yet this "other" George married in Wincanton in 1903, had at least four children by her - the last in 1920!!!! That is why I am convinced there has to be another explanation - travelling around wasn't quite as easy in those days and his occupation didn't take him around the countryside!

The other thing that seems weird is the fact that his parents (well certainly his mother and possibly his father) were actually at the wedding in 1913 - surely they wouldn't have attended if their son had already been married, or was even still married, to another woman!!!

He will still be loved by me - I have the dolls house, the wooden horse, the walking dog and the windmill all made by him - so whatever the outcome it won't change that - I just feel a little confused - so I can well imagine how someone feels when they suddenly find out their world has moved a little and the ground beneath them shifted due to the fact that one of their close family has reinvented the truth!!!!

Marion

Marion, what makes you think these two men are the same person? Do you have his marriage certificates. It does seem hard to accept and I can understand how you feel, do you know that it is the truth. Why would his family ignore his previous family? It would be easier to reinvent the truth if there were no witnesses!

[MarionH]

Hi Buttercup,
Yes I have the two marriage certificates - the names are the same on both, and the father's name are the same on both. The ages correlate to the year my grandfather was born. The 1903 was in Castle Cary and the 1913 was in Dorset. I have traced my grandfather from Castle Cary in 1881 (also have his birth certificate) through to 1901 but lose him in 1911 (which is where the problems started).
One of the witnesses on the first "impostor" marriage (as I have named it to stop me getting confused) has a slightly unusual name - she later went on to marry my grandfather's brother!!! Coincidence possibly! Castle Cary was not a large place.
I have hunted high and low, in Castle Cary and surrounding areas - even up to 12 miles away, to find a second person with a father of the same name (or not even the same name) born within five years of 1881 - still nothing, even if I look in the same county! The 1911 census for the "impostor" states he was b in Castle Cary, likewise his wife.
Sorry - I seem to have taken over this thread :o- didn't mean too - I'm going to ask Valerie to do a hunt for me at the Somerset RO this week to see if she can find a clue - that's about my last hope atm!
Marion