Genealogy Chat

I have just read this most interesting post on Another Site. A marriage taking place about 1840s, second marriage for both parties. The Groom is a Widower but the Bride, under previous name and status, is described as: Husband transported beyond the seas for life. There is no mention of divorce or desertion and I am now wondering if there was a 'standard' dissolving of a marriage if one spouse was transported for life and the other couldn't/didn't want to go with them. This opens up endless possibilities for lots of us who 'suspect bigamy', particularly as thousands upon thousands of people were transported for life during the 1800s. Burning question is: Where are the b*****y records of this??!! Marjorie

Marjorie Prisoners who were transported were called convicts and there is some information about them in Kew. Details here: www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=253 If they transported your husband for life, I think it would be only fair if they allowed you to remarry. How else were you going to live? nell

I just this minute read about this in a booklet Midland Ancestors that I picked up today! After 7 years of the convict being in Australia or wherever the spouse was free to marry again.

I think that applies to any desertion -after 7 years they are assumed dead. nell

Does anyone know if they had to prove there had been no contact in those 7 years or get some sort of official declaration that the convict was assumed dead? My gt gt grandmother claimed to be a widow on her second marriage (9 years after 1st husband was deported) but a few years later sent her 2 sons out to Australia to join their father who had been granted a pardon.

Further posting on Another Site gives an extract from a law book dated 1820, regarding whether a second marriage is valid or not when the first spouse is still alive. There are basically five 'conditions' where a second marriage can be legally contracted whilst the first spouse is still alive - seven years desertion where all effort has been made to trace the missing spouse, and transportation for seven years or for life and NO EFFORT NEED BE TAKEN to find out if they are alive or dead. Nell, I think I perhaps did not make my first post clear (sorry, forgot to put it in easy-read format!) but what I meant was: where are the records of these goings-on, I mean, did the Registrar or Vicar take it on trust or would some sort of proof need to be lodged? And if so, where? I think I am answering my own question actually, it either appears on the marriage cert (if they told the truth) or else they pretend to be single or widowed, in order to cut out any beaurocracy! Still, I think it is an interesting solution to the problem of our bigamous ancestors, and it is not one I had ever thought of before. Marjorie

Hi Marjorie I wish I could look up things like that too. I am descended from a convict who was 32 when he was transported for 14 years..he married 4 years later. I often wonder if he had a wife and children left behind. I have his Assizes info but it doesnt say if he was married. You have a good point, it probably happened a lot. Regards Vickie