Genealogy Chat

Jo, Have you actually got the marr cert for Fred and Alice, or do you mean you have found the registration of the marriage? Have you any documentary evidence for Katharine Leckie Gordon, or is it just that her grandson remembers the name? I can confirm that Leckie/Aleckie is a pet name for Alicia, so presumably it would apply to Alice as well. Jay

Hi Jenna No, he was a clerk. He was living with both women in Manchester at different times! I can understand that maybe he left one wife for the other but it doesn't explain why he had children with each of them in turn - twice. Surely two woman wouldn't stand for that! As Alice is missing from the 1891 census but re-appears with fred and the ever growing number of children in Scotland in 1901, I was wondering where else she could be - hospital, prison ...? But I am struggling... As I can't find a marriage certificate for Fred and his second 'wife', or a death certificate for her - despite knowing she must have died in the late 1930's / early 1940's while living in the Hendon area of London - is there another approach i can take to try and understand what happened? Unfortunately there are few relatives from Fred Barber - although he had a number of children, most didn't have children and I have no way of getting in touch with the relatives of those he did (unless they are reading this board). Any clues where to go next ... I'm stumped!

Maybe he was married to them both at the same time? It's happened before, did his job involve a lot of travelling and being away from home for long periods of time?

Hi Pauline Thanks for the reply. I thought exactly the same - it had to be 2 different Fred's - but it doesn't explain why my partners great grandfather's mother is listed on his birth certificate as from the 'wrong' wife, i.e. not the one his father remembers as his grandmother! Alice is listed on her marriage cert and census as being from Manchester and Katherine (the one his father remembers) was definately Scottish - and was listed as such in the census. I was even prepared to believe they could be the same - Alice and 'Leckie' but Graves and Gordon are such different surnames. I am trying to fill in the extended family to check for any other Fred's (haven't come across any yet), but I think the main mystery is what's on the certificates (and my partners fathers memory) ...

I have been researching my partner’s tree and have a problem with his gt, gt grandfather - Fred Barber Jepson. The family have his baptism certificate (05/01/1862, Manchester) and know he had children including a son, Fred, my partner’s grandfather in 1899. However, it appears he had 2 ‘wives’ – Alice Graves, who I can find a marriage cert for but no death certificate, and Catherine Leckie Gordon, who I can find no certs for, who each bore him 3 children but with Alice bearing the first, Catherine the next two, Alice the next two and Catherine the last! Fred and Alice moved to Scotland (coincidentally where Catherine was from) after Catherine had her first two. I have found Alice listed in the 1881 census living with Fred’s parents Charles and Mary in Lancashire (no sign of Fred), in 1891 Fred was living with ‘wife’ Catherine in Manchester (no sign of an Alice) and in the 1901 Scottish census Fred was living with Alice again. My partners’ father remembers his grandmother as Leckie (not Alice, his true grandmother) and had no idea of the ‘interesting’ family conundrum until we started researching it. Does anyone have any explanations? I don’t know where to look next. Any help / advice is much appreciated.