Genealogy Chat

Oh what a tangled web my family is turning out to be. My fathers mother (my gran - who died before i was around) married her husband (not my dads father), 16 years after living and having 6 children with him. I thought this was odd in the 30s/40s/50s so looked further and discovered that he was already married when he got together with my grandmother. Whilst waiting for certificates to prove my suspicions relating to this I thought I'd look to see if his first wife died, which may have prompted the long awaited marriage to my gran - if only it were that easy!! if I'm right, his first wife didn't die until 1998 aged 92 !! Is the expensive use of the national archives search facility the only way to find out if they ever got divorced ?

his status on the marraige cert to your gran may be a better clue.Do you have a time frame for the marriage if you want a search

Shirley, Thanks for the response. I've got a copy of the certificate of the marriage to my gran on the way from a distant relative and I've also ordered the one from the 1st marriage, just to make sure i'm right. If the one from the relative doesn't turn up I've got the BDM index details ready to order one.I just wondered if there was any way of finding out about divorce details in case there is some discrepancy on the marriage certificate. The remaining family don't seem to know anything about this previous marriage so I need to make sure i'm absolutely right before I say anything!! I guess I'll have to be patient for a week or so. thanks again.

Hi Nadine I have a similar occurence in my family. My gt-grandfather had 9 children from his marriage to my gt-grandmother, then simply disappeared. They were never divorced (to the best of anyone's knowledge), and I have copies of court papers ordering him to pay maintenance and living at an address in London in 1921. It was always suspected he had run off with another woman, but noone knew for sure. I have recently found a marriage from 1920 to another woman. He has an unusual name, and used the same address in London as his residence at the time of marriage, and I managed to find a modern day relative (through GR) of the woman he married, and from photo's and other details we have managed to confirm that it is the same man and we share a gt grandfather. His 'new' family had no idea whatsoever of his past and his previous family, and fortunately are as keen as we are to find out more information. It's like finding a whole new family to research, plus new relations we never knew existed!!! Have you tired finding out if your grandad had any children from his first marriage? Tangled webs like tis are much more exciting to research :) Regards Richard

Nadine. I guess if he was committing adultery he would say he was a bachelor or widower on remarrying, the cert to your gran is only as good as the info he gave.

Hi Richard, Yes it's intriguing, and I've only just started digging around in my family tree! Although I'm not sure how far down this line I want to go. My grandmothers husband was not my fathers father. We don't know who that was,and probably never will - she didn't tell anyone apparently. My father was brought up by his grandparents when my grandmother got together with her husband, so technically my only link to her husband is the marriage to my gran (there's no blood link).Their children are half brothers/sisters to my dad (they share the same mum) and the children from the 1st marriage would be half brothers/sisters to my dads half brother/sisters (they would share the saem dad). Oh how confusing!! Anyway I have checked and there were 6 children from the first marriage (indeed if i'm right, he was still having children with his first wife whilst also having children with my gran!!), the eldest of which I have tracked a marriage and later his death, so I'm sure i can probably track down living relatives if I want to. I'm just not sure how far down that route I want to go as they would not be related to me or my dad really. I think my money might be better off spent in the short term, just clarifying the marriage situation then working back through my grandmothers line. Who knows, maybe later....... Nadine

Shirley, If i'm right then we know he was definitely committing adultery - it's the bigamy thing I want to check and he's not likely to put that on his marriage cert is he ?? (hee hee)