Musical Wife problem

[jeremyf]

The title will become apparent.

Following on from my 1st Cousins marrying problem I have another marriage problem that maybe someone could point me in the right direction with.

I have two brothers who appear in the 1851 census with their respective wives. In the 1861 census one brother has disappeared and his wife now appears to be married to the other brother, inheriting his children. So the details I have are (ages in brackets)

1851
Jacob /Maundril/ (20) + Jane // (20)
George /Maundrill/ (25) + Mary A // (27) = Ann (2), Mary A (5 mo)

1861
Jacob /Maundrill/ (30) + Mary Ann /Willin/ = Ann (12), Mary J (10), Elizabeth (8), Mary (6), William J (6), Ann (3), George (3 mo)

Further, I have the BMD entries for the marriage of Jacob and Mary Ann in Dec 1850 and also BMD entries for the deaths of George in Dec 1858 and Jane in Jun 1855.

At first glance it appears after Jane and George died Jacob married his brothers widow but the dates do not agree. Jacob appears to have married before Jane and George died and the 1851 census shows Jacob married to Jane. Before I have to start ordering lots of certificates to try and resolve this is there something else I should be considering?

Thanks

[Burrow Digger]

Unless the free BMD shows that MAry Ann's surname in the two marriages to Jacob & George was exactly the same, it is possible that JAcob's second wife was called MAry Ann (it was a fairly common name) and was no relation to George's wife MAry Ann. It has been known to happen.


You're still going to need marriage certs for George & 2 certs for Jacob to prove or disprove your theory.

BD

[jeremyf]

That is one of the problems. I have found George but not Mary Ann. Under the page number for George there are 3 male and 2 female entries. I could try and prove the other 2 marriages through the census but it still would not show who Mary Ann was. The fact that Mary Ann and Mary Ann Willin are of the same age and place of birth and that the first 2 children, ignoring the Mary A/Mary J difference are the same strongly suggests they are the same person. But then the dates mess it all up.

As you say it looks like I will have to resort to certificates.