False last names used at marriage c.1903?

[History_Hunter]

Is there a way to attach a PDF to a posting? I've summarized posts 1-59 and would like to share this with those who are trying to help me research the life of Rosina Isabel Colborne.

[almach]

I don't think this 1940 census has been mentioned previously?

Riverside Drive, New York.
Robert Harris, 52, born Pennsylvania, steward in hotel
Rosina Harris, 49, born England.
Rosina, wrong age, right person? I think it's her, she either doesn't want to admit to her true age or she's lost count

Rosina HARRIS age 39, born England and Robert HARRIS age 42, born Pennsylvania are also together in 1930, they are living in Payson Ave, New York. Robert employed as a waiter in a club, he's listed as a war veteran.

Robert's age at first marriage 41, Rosina's age at first marriage 35 (her marriage to Glegg?) Rosina says immigration year 1914?

[wilson8]

Alma....very interesting yr post about Rosina on the 1930 census. So, just 5 years after she married John Glegg in 1925, she is already living with and married to Robert Harris. So many twists and turns to her life.

[wilson8]

Can anyone find Rosina's marriage to Robert Harris between years 1925 - 1930? I have looked under all her possible surnames (Colborne, West, Glegg) and come up empty. Were she and Robert Harris really married?

[Jomot1]

No, I didn't find a marriage either, nor could I find a second marriage for John Glegg (who was married but without a wife in the 1940 census).

This looks like Robert Harris's death in 1970 - DoB out by exactly 1 year.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JK52-RNR

My personal suspicion is that Rosina married only once, to John FH Glegg.

[History_Hunter]

There seem to be a awful lot of instances of temporal disconnects in the logic for the Harris connection.

The 1914 immigration year concerns me. In the 1911 Passenger List, Rosina Colborne, now going by Rose West, stated she was going home to her husband at a New York address. So; she ws a U.S. resident in 1911.

She was also consistent in her age in both the 1930 and 1940 census (10 yrs apart in both census date and age). That stated age would make her birth year about 1891, but I have her birth registration in England as 1885 December Quarter.

The only thing we know as a relatively solid starting point is that Rosina Colborne came to the U.S. for the first time in 1910, subsequently appeared as Rosina Isabel West in the 1911 Bristis Census, then travelled back to new York, to her home and husband John R. West, in 1911.

I really think that solving the lack of a marriage record for Rosina and John West and especially his unexplained disappearance would help us to understand whether the Harris marriage is a valid lead.

The total absence of any clear linkage between Rosina Colborne and John R West, other than the 1911 passenger list, is very odd. No marriage entry, no death of John R. West that identifies Rosina, nothing...

[Jomot1]

HH, I honestly think you are trying to put 'order' into a life that, well, possibly just wasn't!!

The strongest link you have is the 1925 marriage. The transcription of her mother as Ellen Brill on Familysearch is just that - somebody else's attempt to read what is possibly awful handwriting. John Glegg was quite a bit younger than Rosina, so it's not really a surprise if she 'trimmed' a few years off her real age.

Without meaning to sound unkind, you really need to view the marriage & death certificates and then let us know exactly what they say.

[History_Hunter]

Jomot1,
By the way; I was explicitly referring to the Harris marriage, not the Clegg one. The Clegg one, as you noted, is likely valid and I've previously stated that I found the marriage licence reference for that one in the imaged films on archive.org.

I wasn't trying to put "order" into a life that wasn't ordered, but rather ensuring that I have the evidence to support each hypothesis before taking it as fact. This requires working through issues in a stepwise fashion. I've been burned before by bowing to my enthusiasm and that decision has been costly. (There were two Frederick William Wells born on the same day in the same town to parents of the same name. I, unfortunately, chose the wrong one.)

As for the images... I'll get down to the library to get the remaining images as soon as "she who must be obeyed" permits me to have the car. :>) (You do watch Rumpole of the Bailey, don't you?) My wife has been very busy this past week with birthday plans. I expect that I'll be able to do the research later this week.

[almach]

No, I didn't find a marriage either, nor could I find a second marriage for John Glegg (who was married but without a wife in the 1940 census).
My personal suspicion is that Rosina married only once, to John FH Glegg.

I too think it probable that Rosina married only once, the John Glegg marriage is the only one found and she married him using her birth surname, there's no evidence of marriage to John West or Robert Harris.

Why Rosina and John West didn't marry isn't clear, perhaps he was married when they met. It is likely Rosina and Robert Harris didn't marry as Rosina was still married to John Glegg.

It seems she led a complicated life.

[wilson8]

There's a passenger arrival list which could be Rosina.

Ship: Lancastria arrived Puerto Rica 26th Aug 1931
Rose Harris age 40, born 28 Sept 18?? (last two numbers have ink blots)
Robert Harris age 45, born 3rd Dec 1887

The social security application record posted by Jomot at post #7 mentions a birth date of 28th Sept 1886. However, Robert's birth date doesn't agree with other records which give the date 22nd Nov 1887

This find by "Alma" is also perplexing. If it is "the" Rosina we are all hunting for and her husband Robert Harris - what on earth were they doing going to Puerto Rico in 1931?

Back then, travel was expensive - people just didn't take cruises and packaged trips like we do today. From the census records we have seen posted on this thread, Rosina and her spouse/s? don't seem wealthy (i.e., none of the men were listed as lawyers, doctors, professors, etc. - rather, the opposite - working as a waiter, etc.). Finding the money for a "leisure" trip to Puerto Rico in 1931 (esp. during the great-depression when money was very, very tight) seems very odd.

What can we make of this?