Genealogy Chat

That's certainly possible, although they were definitely married. It may be that the marriage had been declared invalid due to bigamy by the time Charles was born, hence the dual registration.

Sarah...re the birth cert. and the listing under 2 surnames, I know that nowadays when a child is registered and the parents arn`t married they get listed under both surnames, even though the chosen surname is the only one to appear on the birth cert. for example, If you take a look at the births on Ancestry 1984-2005 you will find many children registerd twice, as many couples arn`t married , so I would imagine thats why your grandfather is listed under 2 different surnames, also I would imagine that means that his father was present when your grandfather was registered, as you cannot register a child under a different surname to your own unless the father is present., or you are married to them, {in which case presumably they`d have the same surname anyway} hope this makes sense.


Nicky

Is there any way of finding court records if he was convicted of bigamy?

To answer one of your questions....

The 'bigimous' marriage will be shown in the marriage index.

No event, be it a birth, marriage or death that was originally recorded, will ever be 'erased' but what will happen is that any changes will be recorded. This means that anyone requesting a copy certificate SHOULD only be provided with the final amended details for the requested entry.

In the event of a 'bigimous' marriage.....If you tried to order the certificate then you would be told the office was unable to issue one, understandable as the 'marriage' didn't really exist.

However the system is not infallible and you will read (on here) of copy marriage certificates being issued for bigimous marriages.

Chris

Hi all, wasn't sure where to post this, but perhaps someone here can help. I finally received a birth certificate for my Great Granddad today (after months of waiting) and I was hoping it would answer some questions but it has raised a lot more!!

My Granddad, David Walker's father Charles Thomas Walker never knew his father and was told that he was a bigamist. His Mother married a man named Ryder when he was young, and never really spoke of him.

We naturally assumed that his rather was a Walker although we couldn't find any marriage records that matched the details we had so we wondered if maye they never really married.

Granddad didn't know much about "Granny Ryder" as she was know, but I found a record for a Mary Walker marrying a William Ryder in 1909 (Plymouth) so that gave us her first name. found that her sons with Ryder had her maiden name listed as Walker.

On the birth certificate, Charles is listed as Charles Thomas Partridge, son of Thomas Partridge ad Mary Wall Walker which was quite a surprise! Another check of the BMD found that for some reason Charles is listed on there both as Charles Thomas Partridge and then as Charles Thomas P Walker (the P presumeably for Patridge) - why would he be listed under both names?

Charles was orn in 1907 and his mother remarried in 1909, I can't find an appropriate death record for Thomas Partridge, nor divorce details, and I thought if they got annuled then the marriage record may have been erased? But it's definitely there. They married in 1st q 1907 (when Mary must have been pregnant already, as Charles was born in June). Something must have happened as I said, he wasn't around, and Mary obviously chose to raise him as a Walker, like herself, which seems unusual?

So...really what I am asking is, how can I find out where this Partridge went, and how was Mary able to remarry? I can't find much on her, as she was born in 1883 and in both 1891 and 1901 census records she is living with a Watts family, working as a servant so goodness knows where her parents were, I think I will need her birth certificate to dig there.

Any ideas or info greatly appreciated! Not sure how to tll my Granddad the news that he should really be Mr Partridge!