Bigamous Marriages in California : Emily Mary Britton / McElroy / Sullivan

[tigerquoll]

Hi,

I am trying to trace the marriages of Emily Mary BRITTON/Brittain who sailed to San Francisco on the "Broadaxe" from Adelaide, Australia with her step-father John (Jack) LAMB and mother, Catherine in 1850. So she may also go under the name of Emily Lamb.

According to later newspaper articles Emily married CHARLES McELROY, about 1853, San Francisco. She then married FRANCIS  MURRAY aka James "Yankee" Sullivan, a champion boxer, about 1855 with whom she had a daughter, Catherine, born in Honolulu. This second marriage was bigamous as Charles was still living.

Yankee Sullivan was jailed and committed suicide in 1856.  At the inquest Emily Mary Sullivan testified "I was the wife of one Francis Murray, alias James Sullivan, now deceased, and have been for the last fourteen months. We were married by a German Clergyman in this city. We have lived together in this city and the Sandwich Island"

What I really want to know is would there be  records of these marriages still in existence and how I can access them also did marriage records of this time have much detail on them?

cheers Janine

[Erato]

I don't know about the marriages, but if you search for "Yankee Sullivan" there is some information on his death and burial here:

http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/index.htm

[Lisa in California]

I have not found a marriage record yet.  However, the following site is continuously updating their records.  Perhaps in the future, they may have San Francisco County records prior to 1859 (if they exist, of course):
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0mtu/

Information that may be supplied on "earlier" records:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0mtv/

[tigerquoll]

Thanks Erato and Lisa for your replies.

I shall have a trawl through the websites you gave links to. I hadn't thought about the San Francisco earthquake destroying a lot of the records. Another problem is that they all had so many different names and alias'. It's hard to know what name they married under. I forgot to mention I have also found Emily's last name spelled  as BRETON.

Is there online newspaper database available for San Francisco?

cheers Janine

[Lisa in California]

Newspapers are in the link Erato provided.  This is a direct link:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0mu2/
It is quite good; I've found several things for my husband's ancestors.

I don't know that the records were necessarily destroyed by fire; they could also be scarce because of the early date of the records.  California became a state in 1850; therefore, records from that time could be more scarce than, let's say, 20 years later.

Are you looking for any other information?  If so, we may be able to find additional facts for you.

[tigerquoll]

Really I would be interested in any articles about the family. Jack Lamb seems to have lived life on the edge and was always one step ahead of his many creditors - I guess this accounts for him moving around so much! He was a well known billiards player and was into horse racing in Australia.There was an Australian newspaper article that hinted he had his ear cut or bitten off in a fight when in San Francisco.

 I particularly wanted young Emily Britton's marriage certificate to confirm  her mother, Catherine's maiden name. But this may not even be included on such early records.

I also would be interested in Charles McElroy, who he was and when he died. Emily re-married for the third time when she eventually returned to Australia and it would be interesting to know whether Charles was still alive at this time or whether this was another bigamous marriage.

It also appears that the ship "Broadaxe" was shipwrecked on the way back to Australia, so they ended up in England for a while.  I wondered if there were any newspaper articles about it in San Francisco.

cheers Janine

[Lisa in California]

Would you know when Emily was born; we can then guesstimate how old Charles McElroy might have been.  (Of course, he could have been much older than Emily.)

According to the June 8, 1856 newspaper report, Sullivan (also) had a wife in New York.

[tigerquoll]

I didn't know about Sullivan's previous wife - LOL, Of course Sullivan would already have a wife, nothing about this family is normal!

Emily Mary Breton was born  6 Dec 1836 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Her father Stephen was a convict and her mother, Catherine, was probably the daughter of a convict. The family moved to Melbourne, Aust, where her father died under suspicious circumstances. Her mother, Catherine, married John Lamb two weeks later.

cheers Janine

[Lisa in California]

After searching three directories from c1853 (I think they were 1852-53, 1854 and 1856), I didn't see any of the last names you provided:
http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/sfdatadir.htm
You can view directories by clicking on "IA".

There is a chance the families lived near San Francisco, but not within the city limits.   

Still having a look around.