Query re Wife in 1907 Will

[darcilou]

Hi All

I am just wondering if someone could give me some assistance with my GG Grandfathers will I received yesterday, I ordered it as my mum had told me rumours that some of his children fell out with him when he remarried (although we've never been able to find any details of this marriage), I was surprised he made a will considering he couldn't read or write and signed his name with an "x" on the will...he died the 4th March and Probate was granted on the 22nd April 1907.

" I Samuel Brown of St Mary's Road Garston in the city of Liverpool Plasterer hereby revoke all former wills, codicils and testamentary instruments made by me and declare this to be my last will I devise and bequeath all the estate and effects....to my wife Jane Brown her heirs, executrix and administrators..."

At the bottom of the Will it states "On the 22nd day of April 1907 Probate of this Will was granted to Jane Brown (wife of John Christian Brown) the sole Executrix.."

Gross Value of Estate was £1858.4.0
Net Value of Personal Estate was £139.7.1

Now my query is does this mean that Jane was previously married to John Christian or did she marry him in between the March and the April, I don't quite understand this, can anyone help me out?

Cheers
Lou

[Peter Goodey]

For starters, it says "wife" and not "widow". That means she was currently married to John Christian BROWN.

You haven't really told us enough of the background. You say he remarried but to whom (maiden name)? Jane someone presumably. You also say you haven't found the marriage.

Does this have any bearing? -

Marriages Mar 1886
BROWN John Christian Festiniog 11b 464
EVANS Edwin Festiniog 11b 464
GRIFFITH Jane Festiniog 11b 464
GRIFFITHS Annie Festiniog 11b 464

It sounds as if Jane was legally married to John Christian BROWN and simply cohabited with Samuel BROWN.

[Colin Moretti]

The thing that struck me is that you haven't told us who the will names as executor(s). Did Samuel have a son John Christian whose wife was declared the sole executrix?
I devise and bequeath all the estate and effects....to my wife Jane Brown her heirs, executrix and administrators..."doesn't tell us who the executor/executrix is, just who is to benefit from the will, I think that executrix in this case is the executrix of Jane Brown - perhaps Jane made a will at the same time as Samuel.

Colin

[darcilou]

Thanks for the replies for far, the background is Samuel lost his wife in 1895, in the 1901 census he is living as a widow with his children in Garston, so sometime between then and 1907 when he dies he meets (and marries?) this woman "Jane" although I am unable to find a marriage between himself and anyone called "Jane" in the registration districts of West Derby, Toxteth Park or Liverpool, the nearest thing I have found in the Index is a Marriage in 1904 in the Prescot district (which encompasses parts of Hale, Speke and is close to Garston) but her name is Mary Ann Brown.
I have no idea where the John Christian Brown fits in, I did go down this road and trace them through the census (he was a mariner born in Copenhagen, Denmark) in 1891 he is living with his wife Jane in Wales, in 1901 she is visiting people in Liverpool and he appears to be living with a different wife Mary Ann somewhere in Liverpool. I am completely puzzled as to whether they are related or the name Brown is just a coincidence..

As for the will the only information on it is as follows [I]
" I Samuel Brown of St Mary's Road Garston in the city of Liverpool Plasterer hereby revoke all former wills, codicils and testamentary instruments made by me and declare this to be my last will I devise and bequeath all the estate and effects whatsoever and wheresoever both real and personal to which I may be entitled or which I may have power to dispose of at my decease unto and to the use of my wife Jane Brown her heirs, executrix and administrators respectively absolutely and I appoint her sole Executrix of this will in witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this nineteenth day of January one thousand nine hundred and seven"

The said deceased was proved and registered in the District Probate Registry of His Majesty's High Court of Justice at Liverpool and that administration of all the estate which by law devolves to and vests in the personal representative of the said deceased was granted by the aforesaid court to Jane Brown (wife of John Christian Brown in the will called by the testator his wife) of Moss Street aforesaid the sole Executrix

Oh and as far as I am aware, he had 2 sons, one Matthias and one Thomas, neither had sons called John, none of his daughters had children called John. He did have a couple of brothers but I have never seen the name John Christian Brown amongst any of their children.

Does this make anymore sense? I am baffled!!

Cheers
Lou

[Peter Goodey]

was granted by the aforesaid court to Jane Brown (wife of John Christian Brown in the will called by the testator his wife) of Moss Street aforesaid the sole Executrix

In your original message you didn't quote the underlined bit above. This makes it crystal clear that the situation is as I suggested earlier.

Samuel BROWN described Jane BROWN as his wife but she wasn't. She was the wife of John Christian BROWN.

[Marie C..]

Or-
could Samuel also have been married to a Jane hence both his wife and John Christian Brown's wife were bith named Jane? and could John Christian Brown have been Sameul's brother? M

[darcilou]

ok thanks, so maybe he was just co-habiting, although on his death certificate she is the informant and has signed it J Brown wife, it seems bizarre he left everything to a woman he was living with and never married, changed his will in the January and was dead by the March!!, it all seems a little odd....

Lou

[Peter Goodey]

Lots of the wills in my family were written quite shortly before the person's death. And it was not at all unusual for co-habiting couples to call themselves married and they may well have believed that they were. People were as confused then as they are now about "common law marriages".

I don't think those circumstances are all that unusual.

[JAP1]

Lou,

You mention a possible family falling out. Not surprising, perhaps, given that Samuel left everything to his relatively new "wife" (who was actually married to someone else) - and not a mention of his children!

There might be an interesting story behind all this (e.g. how did Samuel & Jane meet, etc) but whether it will ever be discovered ...

I wonder what happened to Jane BROWN, and to John Christian BROWN from Denmark, by the time of the 1911 census ...

The name BROWN does seem to be quite coincidental; it is, after all, a very common name.
I notice the name HUGHES appearing twice - perhaps also coincidental, perhaps not.

1886
John Christian BROWN marries in Festiniog, there is a Jane GRIFFITHS on the same page.

1891
Samuel BROWN, 32, Plasterer is living at 17 Whitley St, Garston, Lancashire with wife Ellen 29 (both b Liverpool), and children Mathias 13, Caroline 10, Ellen 8, Emma 6 Hannah 3, Jane 1, Martha 7m (children all listed as b Garston).

Jane BROWN, 24, b Portmadoc is living at 1 Cornhill Pl, Portmadoc, Caernarvonshire, with husband John C H BROWN, 29, b Copenhagen, Denmark, nephew Owen JONES, 13, b Portmadoc, and visitor Mary HUGHES, 23, married, b Portmadoc.

1901
Samuel BROWN, 42, widower, Plasterer is living at 7 McBride St, Garston with children Caroline 19 b Garston, Sarah 7 b Garston and Thomas 6 b Liverpool.

Jane BROWN, 34, married, b Portmadoc is a visitor in the household at 14 Corless St Everton, of Owen HUGHES, 47, Dock Lab, b Liverpool, his wife Margaret 32 b Portmadoc, and children Robert 8 and Margaret 4 (both b Liverpool).

John BROWN (is this the same chap?), 32, mariner, b Denmark (annotated B.S. = British Subject) is living in Surrey St Liverpool, with wife Mary A 19 b Liverpool, sister Martha FOWLER 16 b Liverpool, Winifred BISHOP 19, single, a domestic servant b Staffordshire.

Can't really make much, if anything, of all that ...

JAP

[darcilou]

Thanks Peter and thankyou Jap for having a look for me, I did look for John Brown in the 1901 census myself and found him living with his wife Mary Ann, I am wondering if he too was co-habiting with her and never married her, however I am sure I found a John Brown m a Mary Ann Walsh(e) in the Liverpool area in Sep 1900, although it might not be the same person.
It's all very confusing, I've no idea how to get to the bottom of it all.......

Many thanks again!

Lou