Im still puzzled ?????

[adrian7886]

Good Afternoon to you all

I have posted this question before so please forgive me for repeating it but maybe someone new has joined the forum who could provide a likely answer

My grandmother Annie Louisa Smith (nee Brown) married Edward Bonner in the early 1920s. I have the certificate to prove this. They went on to have at least two children, Lionel, my father and Edwin. Annie already had three children from her previous marriage

On the birth certificates of Lionel and Edwin it doesn't have a father recorded although at this time Annie and Edward Bonner were married. Both Lionel and Edwin were given the middle name Bonner but the surname Smith?

That's the question really why do this? Was it as simple as Annie making sure all the children had the same surname? Another interesting point is that when Annie died she was recorded as widow of Edward Smith by my father although she never married for a third time.

Sorry for posting this again as its not really holding up my research, which is going fine its just this really puzzles me

Thank you

[PaulineJ]

Reads like edward Bonner & edward Smith could be the same man.

[silvery]

So on the birth certificates what was the name of the father, Bonner or Smith?

On the marriage certificate what was the name of the father to Edward Bonner?
I wonder if Edward was illegitimate and used both names of father and mother.  Have you had a look at that?

[silvery]

I've had a look at the previous thread

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,399175.msg2691603.html#msg2691603

and the last post on that says you think you found him in 1901.   Did you change your mind about that family?   

added:
On reflection, I think you're just still intrigued about the use of the names Smith and Bonner.   It does seem very strange.   I can't think of any reason why they should, seems odd.

[jorose]

It is strange; if Annie was married then her husband should have been listed as the father of the children by assumption and she should have been listed with surname "Bonner" unless there was something out of the ordinary going on.

If the family simply changed their surname to Smith then you would expect it to say "Edward Smith" as father and "Annie Louise Smith formerly Brown" or similar as mother.

Was Annie the one who registered the births?
Do you know when/where Edward died? (suggested 1949 death certificate on the other thread, did you ever get that?)
Was he married before he married Annie? (other thread suggests that he possibly was)

I would lean towards the explanation that the 1920 marriage was invalid, possibly due to Edward having already been married!

[adrian7886]

Hello

All my research so far has been verified as I was lucky enough to find someone else researching my great uncle who died in WW1.

There was no father recorded on either birth cert silvery which is what I don't understand as Annie was married to Edward Bonner at the times of both births. But they both have his surname as a middle name. Edwards father was also a Bonner and I have managed to trace that family to Scotland (Bonnar) and Ireland (Bonner)

Neither Lionel or Edwin are still alive so I cant ask them.

Annie registered the births and I have been told by a distant cousin that Edward did die around 1949.


How would one find out if a marriage was invalid?

[silvery]

Out of interest what did Edward Bonner do for a living?

[mike175]

Afraid I haven't followed this thread before, but are you sure Bonner is not an assumed name? Do you have his birth certificate?

Annie's death certificate and the children's birth certificates all point to the 1920s marriage being invalid as previously suggested. That would explain the Smith surnames.

I can think of no other reason for the absence of the husband's name from a birth certificate . . . and even if Bonner was not actually the biological father, the mother's surname for births registered after the marriage would have been Bonner, not Smith  

[adrian7886]

Out of interest what did Edward Bonner do for a living?

He was a roof tiler/builders labourer