simonphillips21
08-03-2009, 1:19 PM
Benjamin Hughes (we'll say he is my GT GT Grandfather for now) married Lydia Hill in Ireland and had several children. He appears as a solid citizen (even had a servant) in 1881. By 1891 he is living with his daughter and Lydia is living separately. In 1901 he is married again, Living with a new wife, Elizabeth Emily, in Abergavenny with a new daughter Elizabeth. Boring so far until....
I made contact with a previously unknown cousin through Ancestry, and she told me the story in the family that Lydia had run off with a german baker, and as far as they knew, wasn't dead by the 1896 remarriage of Benjamin. So I obtained the wedding certificate and LO the old reprobate had listed himself as Widower (it was a civil ceremony too)and him a Methodist Lay Preacher :o
Not only that, Elizabeth Emily was in fact the sister of Alfred Phillips, his son-in-law! Talk about keeping it in the family! I wonder therefore, is he GT GT Grandad Benjamin or GT Grand Uncle Benjamin. Am I my own 4th Cousin?
I made contact with a previously unknown cousin through Ancestry, and she told me the story in the family that Lydia had run off with a german baker, and as far as they knew, wasn't dead by the 1896 remarriage of Benjamin. So I obtained the wedding certificate and LO the old reprobate had listed himself as Widower (it was a civil ceremony too)and him a Methodist Lay Preacher :o
Not only that, Elizabeth Emily was in fact the sister of Alfred Phillips, his son-in-law! Talk about keeping it in the family! I wonder therefore, is he GT GT Grandad Benjamin or GT Grand Uncle Benjamin. Am I my own 4th Cousin?