Genealogy Chat

Right then......I think my course of action must be this...... I already know the GRO entry is in the indexes, nothing in the margin and I was allowed to order and have received the certificate. There would be no way (I think) to know which court might have been applied to in order to ask for a declaration of nullity, so I can't persue that line. So I shall need to see the copy of the marriage entry in the PR's to see if THAT has anything written by it!! If it has, then I know gran should have had a clear conscience when she remarried, except for not having mentioned her previous exploits!! If there is nothing there then I will still be wondering (bet this is what happens!!) I still think there is a possibility gran didn't know the first marriage was bigamous (the police and army never noticed and they interviewed gran about her husband after they had separated. Surely she would have said, ''Don't you know what ELSE he has done, apart from the thefts?''). If she didn't know the marriage was unlawful and she also didn't know hubby number one was killed in August 1917 (under an assumed name) then she would have been worrying on the second marriage wedding night (Nov 1917), not only that her new hubby might be able to tell she was not a virgin!! but also that she had just comitted bigamy!! (though she hadn't!!!!) ''Oh what an evil web we weave, when we first practice to deceive!'' Merry

Merry There's only one High Court, but not sure how you access their records - errrmmmm, 'Hansard' pops into my mind, or is that the House of Lords???Probably much easier and cheaper to get the other cert and see what happens. (I was divorced in the High Court - my first husband had delusions of grandeur and the local Court wasn't good enough for him. It cost an arm and a leg.) Olde Crone

When you say, ''Get the other cert''....do you mean find out what's written in the PR's? I have the bigamous marriage cert already! I have emailed the OPC for Preston asking tham which church was ''The Parish Church Preston'' in 1915 as there are several to choose from, according to Genuki. I have told them an abreviated version of the story, in the hope of whetting their appitite enough that they will offer to do the look-up for me!! (Worth a try!) Merry

Ooh, well done Merry - I find it often pays to create a mystery when wanting to know something! (Well, they must get bored too, mustn't they) I meant get BOTH certs - the bigamous one and the second one. However, thinking about it, as she was pretending to her hubby to be a sweet young thing, she couldnt risk telling the Registrar about the bigamous marriage, in case he wrote something on her marriage lines, which new hubby would see and wonder about. Its looking more and more like she just simplified things for herself and acted as if she had never been married. But as you say, she must have THOUGHT that she was doing something wrong and we are told that the intent is as bad as the deed! But I will still be interested to hear what the Registrar has to say after he has compared both entries. Keep me informed! Olde Crone

I've had the second marriage cert for years!! My poor mum bought it from Somerset House in the 1950's when grandad was claiming his old age pension. Mum had to get the marriage cert and both their birth certs for them. She found her mum's birth cert after a bit of searching as gran had knocked four years off her age. Then she looked for gran and grandad's marriage cert and didn't find it because she was looking too early. Gran had always said she married grandad on her 21st birthday, when it was her 25th birthday. What if, when mum was searching, she had found the 1915 marriage????!!!!! Gran had an unusual name, so it would have been obvious it was her - so what would mum have done??? Come home and kept her mouth shut is the answer!! As it happens she only saw the one to grandad, prob because she only had to check Q4 each year and the other one was in Q2!! These flippin' mysteries have kept us going for years. Mum has almost given up the soaps as she says this is more interesting!! Merry