Genealogy Chat

I am sure that you don't have to be a Catholic, to marry a Catholic. A friend of mind who is CofE married a Catholic,in a Catholic Church over 30 years ago, the Service is shorter than the full Catholic marriage one...a few years later she Divorced him!!! and is now happy married these last 20 odd years to an Italian, the point being...Catholics do its seems marry and divorce, mind you, her second husbands family do not know about the first wedding, as they (Italians) do not of course approve of Divorce, very confusing I know, but it does happen...so maybe, this happen in the case of dear little Patrica parents???....Lilly.

Hi All, I've just spent an hour or so going through all the messages on the thread. There is an awful lot of information to try and digest. Even I cannot do it. So I've taken the main points out and put them into a word document to make it easier for myself. What I've also done it to start building a family tree for Patricia on my home PC. It was a good suggestion from Rachel and it has now paid dividends in that I can clearly see the relationships. It is true to say that your input, no matter how big or small or just encouragement, all contributes to the mammoth effort of finding Patricia's family. By finding the details of her ancestors we can hope to find her descendants (hope I've got that right). Let's be honest, we have all done extremely well in a very short space of time in which most of us could never have done it on our own. Once again many thanks to all who offer help, support or just encouragement. Bye Paul http://patricia-armstrong(.)freewebweb(.)com/

Hi Alex, if you read the thread, you will see that I have posted this same info this teatime, and that we have already covered this. I really do think people should read what has been posted most recently, on the thread. Not meaning just you Alex. I think it is wonderful, that so many of you have taken such an interest in this family. I have spent all day looking into this, and pleased with my results. Ok, I am not helping in the decendants of Patricia, but if we can get back to her ancestors, we may just find one person who is researching the same family, but is not a member of GR. Keep up the good work all of you. Jenny.

I found this on the IGI in the 1881 census. Could be a transcription error but they have Randall as Kendall. The rest of the names tally however. Peter ARMSTRONG Head M Male 43 Scotland Coal Miner & Draper Mary ARMSTRONG Wife M Female 50 Falstone, Northumberland, England James ARMSTRONG Son U Male 18 Scotland Coal Miner Margaret ARMSTRONG Daughter U Female 17 Scotland Minnie ARMSTRONG Daughter U Female 12 Falstone, Northumberland, England Kendall ARMSTRONG Son U Male 11 Falstone, Northumberland, England

Hi Chrissie just been back to look yes it was reg. office. which I should imagine does point more to divorce for a catholic. It just seemed a long time frame from the second husband moving in with her to them getting married. I was wondering if they had to wait so long before he could have been declared dead. Then as you say if he was discharged on healthrounds then the thought of mental breakdown does sound good terms for a divorce. Oh did i read on a thread the other day somethign about there being a place that can look for divorces but i think it was very expensive. Germaine x

Oh, I see what you mean Germaine. No, I seem to remember that the second marriage was in a register office. Mind you, we do know that he was released in 1941 as ill and injured or something.

Hi Chrissie. Yes But I just wonderd what if the church couldn't annul it but if he had been missing then there maybe some way of doing it so she could remarry. Did she remarry in RC Church I can't remember . I wonder what they did in those cases. Germaine x

Hi Germaine At the second marriage though she says that her marriage is disolved. Chrissie

Just reading this what a sad but then again lovely thread. I don't know if anyone has come up with this reason for the marriage being dissolved ( so much to take in in one read) but just in case. What if he was a POW or died unknown and never returned from the war. If after so long long then Henrietta could have remarried i should think. But as there was no death cert. perhaps the church would disolve the marriage leaving her free to remarry. Hope that makes sense. Well done to all. Germaine x

nudge to keep it going

Very true Janice. It could be any of the William Armstrong deaths that were born around that time anyway.

The Newton Abbott thing might end up being a distraction. A death is registered where it happens, so if he had died on holiday or visiting friends, that won't be very helpful. Janice

The reference is Newton Abbott - March 1988 - Vol 21 - Page 1638 - Reg 388. Just had an idea. I will go and have a look to see if there is another William Armstrong, born at the same time, possibly in Devon or nearby. Loads of William Armstrongs in that quarter and the following one but most seem to come from the North East. No Devon ones.

I agree Margaret - I wondered if he had lied to seem a bit older. The death in Newton Abbot certainly had the right birthdate, if it was 30/5/1910 but obviously we can't possibly know if it was him.

What a wonderful caring group of researchers you people are, you have given you time and effort in restoring a little girls past long gone. Paul I thank you for being the kind hearted person you are for restoring our faith in life, heres hoping that all you lovely human beings can make a day of getting together and have a tiny memorial for little Patricia xx Shaz in Oz

Margaret, I did not read your earlier reply as suggesting a mental breakdown. Perhaps you do not like to use that term.

Are you getting that birth date from his enlistment though Margaret? His marriage age would point to 1910 and there is no birth listed in 1909 but there is in 1910.

Nudge to keep this opne going I have not finished readind it all yet

Has anybody considered the possibility that William had a mental breakdown, either because of his daughters death or because of the bombing in London (when did that start?) The Catholics might consider that good grounds for granting a dissolution.

There is a Dunedin in the South Island of New Zealand but I doubt if you would find a birth there in the English BDM. It was named after Edinburgh. Newton A would probably be Newton Abbot in Devon.