RootsChat.Com

Note: It was contrary to canon law (& remember Bligh was a reverend) to marry your deceased wife's sister until 1907. Of course, that doesn't mean to say that it never happened (I know of cases where it did) and it may have been possible to gain dispensation.
It is also interesting that in his will, he fails to mention Mary at all. I'm beginning to wonder if Mary had died by then, and that he did in fact marry his deceased wife's sister. As far as I'm aware, there was only the one Revd Reginald Bligh around at the time but I will have another look. If that is the case, and if we are to assume (perfectly reasonably) that both marriage records are correct, then the deceased wife's sister marriage is the only conclusion I can draw.
Kylie: Does the 1785 marriage call him "Revd"?
Phil

I have been reading this dialogue with great interest.
Although I can see the 1783 marriage between Reginald Bligh & Mary Hawkins on the beta version of the Family Search org, I failed to find it on freereg. Am I missing something?
I find it inconceivable that this is a coincidence perhaps the more so given that the 1785 London marriage to Elizabeth Hawkins is a member submitted record on Family Search which I can't substantiate.
This will of Thomas Hawkins......what does it say exactly wrt his children.
I'd love to nail this one.
Phil

Have you considered that it is not Herts but "Heath" or "Hethe" in Oxford(shire)? I say this because in my wife's tree, there is a William Gulliver of Hethe (1803-1873) who married an Ann Heydon (1804-1874) in Oxford in Nov 1826. I have 9 children to this marriage with the first, John, arriving in 1828.
It's possible that she (ann) could be the (illegitimate) mother and that your William was "adopted" by William Gulliver (probably because he was the real father) but kept the Heydon surname. Food for thought eh?