betty judge wrote: > I Checked with the GOOGLE website for Quakers in Gooucestershire, and there > found 2,570,000 answers, Some groups in Cheltenham are still alive and > holding meetings, Also there is am old book on Quakerism with many names in > it. > I have a man on the Stow Clifford Tree that went to Australia leaving his > family behind. (it was said his wife refused to go. with him ) After > being on ones own for over 7 years, I think the law allowed men in Australia > to remarry. If they had a wife still living, they weren't allowed to legally marry again. What you're referring to is the 7-year rule whereby a husband or wife could remarry if they had had no contact with their spouse and believed (claimed, alleged or knew) s/he was dead. However, if said spouse were then to turn up, the first, legal, marriage continued and any children from the second, bigamous, marriage were illegitimate. There was no penalty for the the couple involved in the second marriage. That applied to abandoned/deserted husbands/wives in the UK as well. -- Charani (UK) OPC for Walton, Greinton and Clutton, SOM Asst OPC for Ashcott and Shapwick, SOM http://wsom-opc.org.uk http://www.savethegurkhas.co.uk/