Henry John Morgan: London to Victoria to Christchurch

[fe_nyx]

The only death I can find for a Henry John Morgan between 1884 (when daughter Caroline was born) and 1896 when Caroline marries William Poole is:
Deaths Mar 1884   
Morgan    Henry John    37    Shoreditch
but this puts him born in 1847, which is far too early.

So, a random theory: Henry meets Jane, decides to leg it over to Australia with her and start a new family of a bazillion kids, leaving poor Caroline on her own. Rather than admit her husband is an adulterer she decides to tell people he is dead - leaving her free to marry again and carry on with a happy life.

[Lucy2]

Well, not so much a spanner.        

It's helpful in explaining why there probably wasn't a marriage between Henry John MORGAN and Jane Elizabeth FITZER.

I would say that Caroline was not a "widow" in the true sense of the word - (maybe a deserted wife).

If Caroline's husband had, (and it certainly seems "he had"), vanished to another part of the world, then after a period of 7 years separation from a prior spouse,  she was (legally) free to re-marry. 

[Lucy2]

Difficult to know who deserted who ?   

Maybe Caroline had taken up with Mr POOLE whilst already married to Henry John MORGAN ?
[Relinquishing children to the father's care is perhaps a tad unusual for those days ? ]

Thinking outside the square now (in the absence of travel / immigration records for Australia for HJM and Jane Elizabeth)  ... did they scarper to AUS with the children, using assumed names
 

Certainly births were registered in VIC using the surname MORGAN from 1890... but they may well have used aliases to gain passage to Australia ?

[Lucy2]

Still looking for Caroline POOLE in later census returns.

[fe_nyx]

It then makes me wonder if Henry and Jane actually legally married at all.
Henry is an interesting character, leaving his wife and then the way he died.

Ok then, Henry goes to Australia either with or without Jane. They have 8 children together, then come to NZ and have 3 more.
Caroline Maria is obviously a child of Henry and Caroline's marriage - she must go with Henry to Australia (or at least get over this way at some point) as she marries and dies in New Zealand.

So what about Henry George? Is he Henry Charles the horse trainer who dies in 1916? When I found records of he children born in Victoria, he wasn't among them. Like I said earlier, Henry George either dies before Henry Charles was born, or they are the same person.
Which means he followed his father over here as well.

And then there is William Thomas. My assumption would be that he is Henry and Caroline's child BUT his birth is 2 years prior to their marriage (I know its not impossible to have children before you are married), so did Henry have a child before even meeting and marrying Caroline? And we know he ended up in NZ.

We seem to have answered a load of questions, and created a few more. But I actually feel like we are getting somewhere, which is brilliant!

[fe_nyx]

Just for interests sake:

Name:    Henry Morgan
Spouse:    Eliza Macnay
Record Type:    Marriage
Event Date:    18 Feb 1862
Parish:    St John, Hoxton
Borough:    Hackney
Father Name:    Henry Morgan
Spouse Father:    William Macnay
Register Type:    Parish Register

Edited to add: Emma Morgan, their daughter as per census records, was born c1859. Maybe it was the Morgan thing to have a child before marriage? 

[fe_nyx]

Perhaps not...

Births Mar 1859   
MCNAY    Emma Sarah        Shoreditch

[Lucy2]

So what about Henry George?

Mmm... don't you mean "Frederick George" ??   [As mentioned earlier - died as Frederick John ??)

[fe_nyx]

So what about Henry George?

Mmm... don't you mean "Frederick George" ??   [As mentioned earlier - died as Frederick John ??)

Nope, Henry George:
Name:    Henry George Morgan
Gender:    Male
Christening Date:    07 Dec 1887
Christening Place:    St. Stephens Church, Walthamstow, Essex, England
Birth Date:    24 Oct 1887
Father's Name:    Henry John Morgan
Mother's Name:    Caroline Frances

I had a thought about William Thomas, after seeing that record for Emma McNay - perhaps he was Caroline's child from before marriage:
Dec 1882
Phillips    William Thomas         Kensington

Perhaps he traveled to Aus under that name?

I'm really open to considering just about anything at this point!