family history query

Mojisola

margi_g wrote: »

This started out as a change of name for one of the children .He was adopted by the second husband and had a very unhappy childhood. He recently took a DNA test to prove the name on his birth certificate is genuine (there were doubts as to who his father was) It proved the first husband of this woman was his father and he has other cousins whom he has never met,Bonus really!.My cousin who is changing his name wanted to know why his parents divorced .inthat tie you had to have a valid reason for divorce so he wanted to know what it was .Baically, I think he wanted to know who was to blame and who divorced who.

Even if you find paperwork, they may not provide the truth - as someone had to be at fault (both sides wanting out of the marriage wasn't good enough), it wasn't unusual for the man to agree to be found with another woman. There were hotels who provided this service - the woman who would be in the bed with him and the chambermaid who "discovered" them in the morning.

TonyMMM

margi_g wrote: »

the National Archive checked this for me from 1950 to 1960 and can find no record. The woman concerned married again in 1958

The National Archives don't hold ANY divorce records for that period. The only place is the court that issued the decree.

However, post 1937, the case papers are not kept, so there will be no indication of the reason for the divorce on the decree, just the date and place it was issued.

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

As long as the second marriage took place in England or Wales you can obtain a PDF copy from the General Register Office for £7.

Marriages are not covered by the pdf option from GRO - it will have to be a paper certificate (£11). Still a lot cheaper than getting a search done for the decree if you have no details.

bouicca21

The National Archive can only check records that they hold. Since they don’t hold case files post 1937, then obviously they won’t hold a file relating to this divorce. You are making the wrong assumptions.

The only way to find out is to check the divorce decree as tonymmm suggested in post 6. A sensible first step would be to get a copy of the certificate for the second marriage in order to see what says about marital status.

peachyprice

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

Bear in mind it was only well into the 20th century that you had to provide proof of divorce on remarriage so earlier on the registrar accepted what people said, and they didn't always tell the truth.

I don't think much has changed even now, the registrar asks if either of you have been married before and if you say 'no' they take your word for it.

TonyMMM

peachyprice wrote: »

I don't think much has changed even now, the registrar asks if either of you have been married before and if you say 'no' they take your word for it.

Correct -as you can't prove a negative - but if you say "Yes", then you are required to show how that marriage ended by producing a decree of divorce, or a death certificate.

chesky

TonyMMM wrote: »

Correct -as you can't prove a negative - but if you say "Yes", then you are required to show how that marriage ended by producing a decree of divorce, or a death certificate.

But if you were about to commit bigamy, I guess you wouldn't say 'yes' in such circumstances would you.

Unless you were terminally stupid.

AnotherJoe

margi_g wrote: »

THis is affecting my cousins who are the children of the woman concerned in these marriages. More worryingly the first husband never remarried. I can find no marriage certificate from the date of the first and 1974 when he died.

How is it affecting them?

StrawberryGrace

I'm a professional genealogist of over 15 years - bigamy is surprisingly common in history long past and not so long past, have come across it a fair bit

skull

I have the first marriage certificate, but only traced the second on local county council records. I think it should say "previous marriage dissolved" if the registrar has seen a decree absolute.

It is possible that the second 'marriage' did not actually happen, and as the only trace is in council records, may have been on the word of the persons concerned, for appearances sake. Just a thought.

Remember 'The Darling Buds of May' and Ma & Pa Larkin, only getting married when daughter Mariette did?

Curtis111

I had a similar issue. Grandfather remarried but there is no record anywhere of Grandma (GM1) ever existing other than the marriage certificate. When he married again it took ages to twig that it was exactly seven years after GM1 allegedly disappeared (no record of death) We are led to believe that legally seven years after her disappearance, you can then continue life as if she never existed and remarry without a divorce certificate. We haven't been able to find any record of her disappearance being reported either other than a since deceased aunt saying that was the last time she saw her before she vanished leaving four young children. Bizarre but strange things happen. So, look for any record around seven years after the event, they may have been declared missing presumed deceased. Good luck.
(fascinatingly frustrating isn't it :-) )