General Chat

Declare herself Widow on 2nd marriage when I have found her 1st Husband died 40 ish years after she was "widowed" This was in Western Australia by the way. :-0

a good fibber!!!!

I strongly suspect My great aunt did the same, but I have never found a death for her first husband, unless she hid him under the verandah,

(they didnt have patio's) in 1901 did they?

One of my great grandfathers has 'married' next to his name in the same handwriting as whoever filled in the 1911 - presumably him - but this is crossed out and 'widower' written above it in a different hand. That too is crossed out. :-S
Great grandmother was a few streets away as 'visitor' (married) at her parents house. Oh to have been a fly on the wall lol!

Bob, they called patios back yards in them days :-D

Ah!

you live and learn summat new every day........LOL

Her family were carmen so maybe he became part of a compost heap!!

Bobtanian.

Have you tried to track the children's marriages to se what it says on that cert with regard to who Father is?

I have a pretty good info on the children of the first marriage,alas (three girls)

and also on the 7 children of the second one. the fathers' seem to be correct in both cases........its just there is conflicting hearsay on where/what happened to the first husband.........one theory was he did a runner to oz.........but that wouldn't make her an actual widow, would it?

bob

My g grandmother had 8 children out of wedlock, by the same man, and in the 21 years before they married, she was known always as Mrs P- the surname of my g grandad and all the children bore his surname..
On their marriage certificate, (in 1921) g grandad says he is a bachelor - oh no he isn't, he's at least a widower.

He first married in London in 1890, and had scarpered off to Dorset between 1891 and 1901.
Great Grandma moved in 1899 from a small Suffolk village to Grimsby, where she gave birth to a daughter out of wedlock. She left the child with her parents and moved to Dorset - where she met g grandad

My understanding is that after 7 years of no contact and the "widow" having made genuine efforts to find last Husband and could not find him, needed to make a statment to that effect before declaring herself widowed.
I really am not sure about this and also don't know if it was the same in Australia.
:-0

My great grandmother married great grandad as a spinster despite having been married before (and having a young child by her first husband).
A relative of my wife married the sister of his deceased wife when it was still illegal.
In the absence of evidence to the contrary the minister had to accept whatever the bride and groom told him.

In England, at least until fairly recently, you have never had to show proof of your marital status, so you could tell the vicar whatever you wanted, and he would believe it.


I did not have to show even my birth certificate when we got married in 1967 ............. and I was not getting married in my own parish but in my OH's.


so such "fibs" were very easily done!



as was telling the vicar your father was dead when he wasn't or vice versa






sylvia

ZZzzzz it was the same in Australia if after 7yrs of no contact you could declare yourself widowed. Thats how most of the convicts remarried and had second familys out here while the 1st wife/husband was back in England.

My daughter and I both married in different parts of the UK and both had to show birth certs and certs of baptism and swear as to our status and she married in the next parish as ours at the time did not have church bells - which she wanted!