Genealogy Chat

HiSharon Right! I understand now, does seem as if he had two families. There is an extremely remote possibility that the first marriage was annulled, however, as you have copies of the PR entries, I think it would have said something to this effect, however, as Annulments were 'Bishops business', it might only be on the BT. As I say, a very remote possibility. If these two men are one and the same man (quite sure its not an uncle/cousin/brother thing?) then it looks as if he sucessfully got away with bigamy. Some Marriage Licences still survive and those that do are usually kept in the relevant County Records Office. Might be worth a look to see what he said on the application for the licence about his parish of origin and his marital status. Good luck Marjorie

Marjorie, yes I'm sorry It is parish registers I have .The first marriage took place in The parish of Kelk. The second in Great Driffield..The last child from the first marriage was born 5 years after the other children and it says illegitamate on his baptism record although he had his fathers surname.On the 1841 cenus wife 1 is still alive living with this son.another of the children is living with his family,father and wife 2. Maybe he deserted his first wife for having an affair? This is getting very confusing. Sharon

Er, Sharon... I know its late and maybe I am being a bit thick, but you cannot have marriage certificates for this man - do you mean you have copies o0f the marriage entries in the Parish Regs? How far apart were the two places he married in? I would hazard a guess that unless they were many miles from each other, he could not have got away with bigamy - too many people watching/knowing etc. The fact that the second marriage was by licence rather than banns would, I THINK, mean that he would have had to prove that he was free to marry, but of course he might just have been a convincing liar! How do you know the first wife didnt die? Marjorie

Sharon Read the National archives info on divorce before 1858 - it will tell you where to find records and info about desertion (which is what is most likely to happen in the event of marriage breakdown) etc. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/familyhistory/divorce/ nell

Before 1862 (I think!) a divorce could only be granted with permission from Parliament!

Marjorie Peek recently discovered that there were under 400 divorces pre 1858. That is the total number, not per year. For practical purposes, anybody marrying in England while their partners was still alive was committing bigamy. I believe the laws in Scotland were rather more liberal.

I think that could be it.He was a bigamist.Both marriages were in different parishes.but only a few miles apart. Sharon

How can you be sure that he didn't have a son/nephew with the same name as his own?

Were both marriages in the same place? If not, the second one could just have been bigamy but he didn't think anybody would find out. Kate.

It Just gives the names saying they were married in this parish church by licence . Then signed by him and his wife and 2 witnesses. I dont think they had money,they were farmers with a lot of children. Sharon

He must have had money and connections to have divorced back then. It was a preserve of the wealthy I believe. Does his 2nd cert show him as divorced or bachelor or what?

Hi Can anyone tell me how I can find a divorce record. My 5x gr Grandfather married in1789 and again in 1817 .I have both of the marriage certificates .His first marriage was with Banns the second marriage was by licence. his first wife didnt die until she was well into her 80's. I read in a family history magazine that sometimes on market days there was Wife Sales .So he either sold her ,divorced her or maybe swapped her for a couple of cows . Any Ideas on how I can find out what happened. Thank you Sharon