Ancestor Question

dee12_7

I was wondering if anybody could give me a few suggestions/ideas about possible reasons for such odd behaviour from a couple of my ancestors?

Ive been researching one particular family in my tree for a long time now and Im completely baffled by them. I know that my great great grandfather was English and was married with a family but then he was declared bankrupt and in the next census(1881) he was living alone as a boarder in a different part of England. After that he disappears from the records in England and I cant find anything more about him until he appears in Cork with a new family in 1901. The woman who is recorded as his wife doesn't seem to have any maiden name recorded anywhere, I cant find any sign of a marriage record for this couple and I cant find any birth records for their 2 children. The family surname is quite unusual so they should stand out in the records.

I located a baptismal record for the couples daughter when she converted to Catholicism and her fathers full name is recorded but there is no surname whatsoever given for her mother. Ive tried looking for them in 1911 to give a clue as to when they married but he died in 1909 so she was recorded as a widow,therefore no indication was given as to how long they had been married. Would anybody know if there is there any way of filling in the gaps in their story?

mari2222

Hi dee12 7

You might track what happened wife1 as he may not have actually married wife2......as they seem to be between england and ireland, birth records may be in either place

Coolnabacky1873

Ancestry have a new record set, UK Divorces 1858-1911. You might get some joy with that.

mari2222

hi dee12 7

i wonder did you find them in the 1911 census?

dee12_7

I searched the records in ancestry for them in the UK and theres no record of him after 1881. His wife in England seems to have moved to a different part of England with their children and theres no more references to him only that she continued to be recorded as married until she died. I searched the divorce records also but theres no mention of anybody with that surname. I found his wife in Ireland on the 1911 census but as he died in 1909 she was recorded as a widow and it doesn't mention how long they had been married. I found a newspaper piece referring to his death and it said he tended to sleep where he worked and that he lived alone and no mention was made of his wife.

odds_on

I have a "gentleman" in my family tree who was an officer in the army, fought in the Peninsula war and eloped and married a Portuguese lady. They returned to Ireland and had 8 children.

He seems to have just left them after 19 years of marriage, went to England married another lady and had 3 more children. During this time he also had a child by another lady in Wales.

He then seems to have been sent to the West Indies as an officer on half pay. He died there a couple of years later.

The year before his first marriage, he was court marshalled on three charges of which two were for "conduct tending to the prejudice of good order and military discipline in associating with the wife of Noah Cooper, private soldier" and "scandalous and infamous behaviour, unbecoming the character of an Officer and a gentleman".

So, as you may see, a divorce did not necessarily happen.

Ponster

Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »

Ancestry have a new record set, UK Divorces 1858-1911. You might get some joy with that.

Thanks ! Just found the diviorce records I paid 40 quid for last year

mari2222

Hi dee12 7

Am wondering if you tried looking for his burial record in Cork?....perhaps a headstone may exist with some data.......just thinking aloud here!, it is a puzzle all right.

dee12_7

After checking those records ive been thinking its possible that they didn't divorce. I went to his burial place and after I checked the records I was told that nobody owned the grave, therefore it's considered a paupers grave but she was buried there too, which is quite unusual since pauper graves tend to be single plots and I dont think he was poor as he ran his own business. Anyway, I visited the spot and there was no headstone.

Coolnabacky1873

Ponster wrote: »

Thanks ! Just found the diviorce records I paid 40 quid for last year

Yeah researchers have a bit of a dilemma these days. Pay for the paper search or wait until it's digitzed. Of course, you could be waiting for years.

Jellybaby1

dee12_7 wrote: »

After checking those records ive been thinking its possible that they didn't divorce. I went to his burial place and after I checked the records I was told that nobody owned the grave, therefore it's considered a paupers grave but she was buried there too, which is quite unusual since pauper graves tend to be single plots and I dont think he was poor as he ran his own business. Anyway, I visited the spot and there was no headstone.

I never thought pauper graves were single plots in every instance. I was told one of my guys is in a pauper grave along with several other paupers and its unmarked so we wouldn't know who his neighbours are in there.

dee12_7

Apologies about that Jellybaby1 as Im incorrect in saying that they tended to be single plots but what I meant that I was told by the man working in the graveyard that paupers graves tended to be the burial places of people who had nobody to take responsibility for their grave so they didnt tend to be buried with other relatives. My ancestor died in 1909 and nobody was recorded as having taken responsibilty for his grave but she died in 1914 and she was buried with him but nobody took responsibility for her grave either even though they had 2 children. He showed me the other records on the page and they all had records of people who were associated with the deceased people so I was confused by that. It doesnt seem that there was bad blood between them as their daughter named her children after both if them.

Jellybaby1

I understand you now Dee. Thanks for clarifying.