Dunham Bird's third marriage - can you help please?

[Yorkslass]

Hello all,

Can anyone help me find Dunham Bird’s third marriage.
I’ve found his previous two (1) to Lydia Skipper 18 10 1824 at Ingham,
(2) to Elizabeth Dye, on 25 9 1838 at Norwich.

Sometime after Elizabeth’s death, in 1854 and 1859, he married Mary Ann ?
I have Dunham Bird’s Will, from 1875, where he leaves everything to “his wife Mary Ann Bird”, so I am assuming they did marry.  I have searched the Ingham registers with no success.

I did find some of his and Mary Ann’s children, baptised in Ingham, but none of the baptisms show her maiden name.

I have found Dunham and Mary Ann (sometimes Maryann) together on 1861 and 1871 censuses, living in Ingham, and Mary Ann is shown as being born in Garboldisham, on those and all later censuses.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks,
Yorkslass

[SmowGY]

Sorry I haven't been able to find it either

[Yorkslass]

Hello SmowGY,

Well thank you for looking. 

Strange ... none of their children appear to have been registered either, though as I say,
some of them were baptised at Ingham.

Yorkslass

[barryd]

Just because a man calls a woman his wife one cannot assume they did marry legally! A birth certificate of one or more of the children should give a maiden name for Mary Ann but cannot infer whether they were married or not.

[SmowGY]

Hi Barryd

This was first posted in 2008 and Yorklass has thank me for bumping up, as someone might reply

It worked

Not finding marriages is a bit of a habit his son Jessie had the banns read, but no marriage that we can find

[Yorkslass]

I agree BarryD, and thank you for replying 
- but I haven't been able to find one birth certificate!

I've already sent for three possibles, none of which were correct.
The children were Alfred James (b. 1859),  Mary Ann (1861), Willie (1865), George (1868), Jesse (1872) and Edith Gertrude (1877) - all born Ingham as shown on several censuses.

I'd have expected the registration district to have been Tunstead or Smallburgh, but have drawn a blank.

I don't have a problem if Dunham and Mary Ann were never married - but the Probate for Dunham indicates Mary Ann was the "widow and relict", and Dunham's Will refers to her as his wife ....

Yorkslass

[SmowGY]

Did you find Mary Ann on later census?

If not 1881 in London RG11/731/40/5

1891 in London  RG12/20/9/11,  in both these she's a servant in 1891 with her daughter Gertrude

1901 in Hull  RG13/4476/158/15  with Gertrude and her husband James William Law & 2 daughters

I'm sure you already have these

[Yorkslass]

Yes thanks SmowGY, I have.

I'm thinking after Dunham Bird died, Mary Ann must have left her two youngest children "in lodgings" while she herself went off to the big City to earn some money.

You'll have seen she was mixed up about her age

She "lost" 10 years between '61 and '71, but stuck with it!

Yorkslass

[SmowGY]

Maybe Jessie was nasty because he thought his mother had dumped him?

Just a thought