Dear Listers I wonder if someone could help me with a complicated query. I am trying to track down the marriage of Caroline JONES (nee BATE) to Hugh HUGHES (possible middle name William). Hugh died in 1904 at Essington, aged approximately 58 years, which brings his birth year to around 1846, place unknown. Caroline was married to a Joseph JONES in 1868 in PENSNETT, Staffs and they had two children Agnes and Minnie, the youngest being born in 1870. By 1875 she is married to Hugh HUGHES and living in Essington they have two children William (born 1875) and Hugh (born 1880) HUGHES. I have tried in vain to find a marriage for these two but am unable. To make things worse he is missing from both the 1881 and 1891 census records, although she is listed as married. I have tried Ancestry, Freebmd, Familysearch etc etc and am totally stuck. Can anyone help, or suggest somewhere else I may look. I would appreciate any help. Thanks Jane

Have you considered the marriage you want did not exist? De facto relationships existed then possibly as much as now p but were not talked about. Also, bigamy was the normal person's divorce - THAT was so hard to get and SO VERY expensive, perhaps only the riytal family and it's associates could really avail themselves of the possibility. My grandmother's sister Lizzie let the family think she was Mrs Clark and that Georgie (Cockhill) was illegitimate to her before marriage. In fact, I have the marriage cert for her to William cockhill, and Georgie was not even a short pregnancy after that - and she was with William and Georgie and William's family in 1901 census. But she had about six or seven children, starting about 1906, to Mr Clark.. and William Cockhill was with another lady, a baby, and also - Georgie! in 1911 census. Lizzie was with the Clark lot - nuclear family, but a large one. William died 1912 - the kids kept coming - all registered at birth as Cockhill (and died that way too, including Mum) where the informant was Mr Clark and father unknown OR William Cockhill. No marriage found for either Mr or Mrs Cockhill to the new partners, either. Those children married as Clark though - and obviously found out later, as the other name is penciled in at the bottom of the relevant pages of the registers. AND, to cap it all off, I have made contact with the owner of the farm where they worked - same family and it is now a farm stay place - and this guy remembers his grandfather talking about the Clarks, said they were NOT married but no-one mentioned that, and in fact my correspondent is a godparent to a Clark grandchild. Nedxt trip, I am going to stay at his accommodation place! Mind you, Grandma's (and Lizzie's) father married seven times - the first (from whence I derive), he lied about his age saying he was 21 when he was not - and the other six (so far found) were bigamous. Henry BERNHARDT of anyone has i=him in family legend - each marriage was in a different bit of England - he went also by the name Harry - and his full h=name was John Henry Thomas BERNHARDT but in our family stories, he was always Henry and I have only this last twelve months found the rest of it. Dawn (Melbourne Australia) -----Original Message----- From: staffordshire-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:staffordshire-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of jane hughes Sent: Thursday, 5 April 2012 1:55 AM To: staffordshire Subject: [STAFFORDSHIRE] Hugh Hughes Dear Listers I wonder if someone could help me with a complicated query. I am trying to track down the marriage of Caroline JONES (nee BATE) to Hugh HUGHES (possible middle name William). Hugh died in 1904 at Essington, aged approximately 58 years, which brings his birth year to around 1846, place unknown. Caroline was married to a Joseph JONES in 1868 in PENSNETT, Staffs and they had two children Agnes and Minnie, the youngest being born in 1870. By 1875 she is married to Hugh HUGHES and living in Essington they have two children William (born 1875) and Hugh (born 1880) HUGHES. I have tried in vain to find a marriage for these two but am unable. To make things worse he is missing from both the 1881 and 1891 census records, although she is listed as married. I have tried Ancestry, Freebmd, Familysearch etc etc and am totally stuck. Can anyone help, or suggest somewhere else I may look. I would appreciate any help. Thanks Jane ****************************** ATTENTION TO ALL:- When replying please remove the details that do not apply to your mail and change the SUBJECT LINE for best useage of ARCHIVED MATERIALS. ------------------------------- ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to STAFFORDSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 7028 (20120404) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 7028 (20120404) __________ The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. http://www.eset.com

Jane, As somebody suggested they might never have married. However, there are certain fact that seem to be missing. When did Joseph Jones die? Was he in 1871 census. Looking at your data, a normal marriage would be between say 1870 (Minnie Jones) - 1875 (William Hughes). Is there any clue in William's birthplace? Secondly, what is the occupation of Hugh Hughes. Is he perhaps a migratory worker? What are his origins? Is it possible they married in Scotland or Ireland or even on a ship somewhere? Does 1911 give how long she was married even though now a widow? Peter