Thanks for that explanation, Gavin. I'm not sure how secret you want your last comment to be but that's just between us - and the few thousand on the list. We are unsure how devious James BISHOP was but there's food for thought in all this. We'll carry on searching. Thanks again. Ray -------------------------------------------- On 19 February 2010 17:44, Gavin Bell <g.bell@which.net> wrote: > Ray Hennessy wrote: >> ... James BISHOP married Mary Ann MELDRUM of Ellon in Chicago in 1874 and they had a daughter, Margaret BISHOP in 1876 in Richmond Illinois. >> >> Mary Ann and Margaret were back in Ellon by 1881 without James and we have been unable to discover anything about him.  The family story is that he was left behind in the US but, as  we can't find him for certain on any US Census, we are wondering if he returned to Scotland [if indeed he came from Scotland!!]. >> >> There are several James BISHOPs in the later Scottish Censuses but the likely ones are saying they are married and have children so this is our question: >> >> If James came to Scotland and lived with another woman, could they be known as "Married with Habit and Repute"? > > Possibly.  But in those non-computerised days, there was probably very little to prevent him actually claiming to be single (or widowed) and going through a normal marriage ceremony. > >> If so, would this be bigamy? > > You would need an expert in marriage under Scots Law to be certain, but I have always supposed that, while "habit and repute" would normally give grounds to assert that a marriage had been constituted, there might > be a degree of "wriggle-room" if that marriage had not been in some way officially homologated. > > Persons entering into a marriage "by declaration" were (from 1855) under an obligation to report the event to the relevant Registrar, but couldn't do this in their own right.  Instead they had to trot along to the local Sheriff Court where they would be quizzed as to (a) whether they were free to marry each other and (b) whether a declaration had taken place.  If satisfied, the Sheriff would issue a "Warrant" that they could take to the Registrar. > > I don't know whether there was some equivalent procedure for "habit and repute" parties to get their administrative position clarified, but if the matter had not previously been put to some kind of legal test, then the Gay Lothario could always claim that he had just been living in sin, so that there was no actual bigamy. > > Well, that's how I would play it ....