Find Ancestors

Hi Karyle - I got your PMs too.

Please always reply in the thread! - it's the purple Reply button up top, as I'm probably not the first to say now. ;)


And for future ref, please always give *all* the info you have, to start with, so people aren't chasing their tails trying to sort things out.


Karyle says:

"We are not sure whether he was already married but we have our inclings as he disappeared while still married to nan.
The last siting of him was on Romney Marshes in the 1930 a person had seen him there but only the once and since stayed a mystery"

I'm reminded of one of my favourite movies when I was a kid - the Scarecrow of Romney Marsh!

Thanks for all your help I am new to all this and didn't realise I had to use
Thread reply

Christine - "Well that certainly adds up to 1893. There is an error somewhere."

People certainly lied about their ages, but 15 years might have been a bit hard to pass off, true!

Karyle, just to sort it out, you first said:


JOHN AUBURY BUNYAN BORN 1893/94 FATHERS NAME PETER BUNYAN (DIED BEFORE 1925} A GENERAL LABOURER.
MARRIED CATHERINE WINIFED COUCHMAN 1925


But we now know she was Kathleen Winifred Couchman.

Was he
John AUBURY Bunyan
or
John AUBREY Bunyan
?


We can only see the initial in the marriages index - can you tell us exactly what the certificate says?

The marriage certificate states: Hollingbourn Registry Office
4/11/1925
John Aubrey Bunyan + Kathleen Winifred Couchman ages 32yrs +23 yrs
Batchelor & Spinster , John General Labourer
Both lived in West Street Harrietsham.

Peter Bunyan ( deceased) Farm Labourer.
James Couchman, General Labourer

Witnesses were
Christina Marjorie Murton ( Kathleens sister) & Charles Wood

Karyle

If you think he may be already married then these would be the ones to check out

Marriages Jun 1921 (97%)


Bunyan John A Gabbey Fulham 1a 751
Gabbey Millicent V M Bunyan Fulham 1a 751


Marriages Sep 1910 (>99%)
Bunyan John A Islington 1b [56]11

1901

Address: 32, Graham Gardens, Hanwell
BAWCOMBE, Mary E Wife Married F 36 1865 Charwoman
Dorton
Buckinghamshire VIEW
BAWCOMBE, Mary E Daughter F 14 1887 Servant
Marylebone
London VIEW
BAWCOMBE, Betsy R Daughter F 12 1889
Ealing
Middlesex VIEW
BAWCOMBE, Thomas R Son M 9 1892
Ealing
Middlesex VIEW
BAWCOMBE, Maud A Daughter F 4 1897
Ealing
Middlesex VIEW
BAWCOMBE, Emily S Daughter F 3 1898
Ealing
Middlesex VIEW
BAWCOMBE, Herbert M Son M 2 1899
Ealing
Middlesex VIEW
BUNYAN, John A Visitor M 22 1879 Farm Labourer
Dorton
Buckinghamshire

I cannot find him in 1911 at all

The Gabbey marriage is the one I was looking at. There are no births to that couple, so an estrangement soon after marriage is a possibility.


This is Millicent V M Gabbey who married John A Bunyan:

Marriages Dec 1906
GABBEY Robert Douglass Fulham 1a 673
STRINGER Millicent Victoria M Fulham 1a 673

Births Jun 1887
Stringer Millicent Victoria M St. Geo. H. Sq. 1a 436

So that was a late second marriage for her, and that was likely the 1878 JAB.

Robert Gabbey was born in Ireland (see 1901, Inland Revenue Officer) and doesn't seem to have died in England between the birth of their last child and her marriage to Bunyan ... Odd that Millicent would next marry a farm labourer ...

The 1910 marriage:

Marriages Sep 1910
> Bunyan John A Islington 1b [56]11
Bowker Catherine A Islington 1b 611
ELSTON Albert E Islington 1b 611
> Thomson Catherine J Islington 1b 611

There are Elston-Bowker births.
Bunyan-Thomson births 1912 and 1916, and Dec 1925 in Medway
... right when the Bunyan-Couchman marriage and first birth both took place, also in Kent ...
... and the 1925 birth was Peter.


A shotgun, bigamous marriage to Ms. Couchman?