marriage of william watson & susan/susannah c 1851

[bramcor]

I've been searching for info about my great-grandfather William Watson prior to his second marriage for some time now & still struggling. He married my great-grandmother Margaret Daley in 1863, West Maitland, NSW, & was described as a widower & a sawyer, aged 39. An annotation on the birth certificates of his first 2 children suggests he married a Susan Price in March 1851, in the CofE, possibly in Launceston.

Recently I bought a death certificate of a Susannah Watson who died in West Maitland in Aug 1862. The informant is her husband, William Watson, sawyer, & he indicates they married in the CofE, Launceston, when she was 27 (she is 41 at death so the marriage date would appear to be c 1848. She apparently spent about 13 years in Van Dieman's land & 3 years in NSW. It seems likely that this is the same William Watson who married my g-grandmother the next year. He gives Susannah's parents as James & Mary Leader, & says she was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire.

I wonder if anyone can help me locate the marriage of William & Susan in Tasmania? The only likely one I've found is with a Susannah Wells in the Fingal district in Nov 1853 (not all that far from Launceston, it seems), but I cannot see a connection between Wells & Leader (or Price). Susannah Wells was a convict, apparently from Wedgebury, England (haven't located that place).

Could there be another marriage record that I just haven't found? I sometimes feel if I could just solve this first marriage issue, I might finally be able to break through the brick wall that has been holding me back for years. Thanks for any help you can give.

[bramcor]

sorry, I'm wondering if I've posted this in the wrong place. My request isn't completed at all - it's just begun. Would Admin be able to move it to the right place, please?

[Dundee]

Hi bramcor,

Just click on 'report to moderator' at the bottom right of your post.

An annotation on the birth certificates of his first 2 children suggests he married a Susan Price in March 1851, in the CofE, possibly in Launceston.

Who are these two children?

Debra 

[Dundee]

Is this other forum post yours?

http://freesettler2.wikifoundry.com/page/Watson%2BDaley%2FDaly+family+from+1863

I presume that the births you referred to above are those to William and Margaret - I have never seen seen a reference to a previous marriage on a birth cert before, seems odd.

Who registered the births?

Is there any mention of children on Susannah's death cert?

Do you have original images or are the certificates typed transcriptions?  If they are originals can you attach a snip of the sections from the births certs which note the marriage and the section of the death cert which names Susannah's parents?

Debra 

[bramcor]

Debra, his first two children were Alice & William Henry. Somewhere on Roots Chat, I once posted the snippet of the annotation about the first marriage from the birth certificates of the two children. I don't know how to find it on here or how to link it, & I can't remember when it was. I suspect the annotations are written by the same person but have wondered if the second time it was just copied since the date details are slightly different. Perhaps the person who added it couldn't read the first entry properly.
That annotation seemed to be saying the first wife was Susan Price & the place possibly said Launceston (that was the gist of my enquiry at the time - I hoped someone might be able to verify what it said). I found a marriage of a Susan Price (convict) in Tasmania but she didn't marry a William Watson.

[bramcor]

Debra, the free settler post was mine. That may have been around the same time as I posted the snippets about the first marriage on Roots Chat.
The two children, Alice & William Henry, were the children of William & Margaret. William was the informant for both certificates.
Susannah's death certificate says there were no children of the marriage (the annotation on the children's certificates also said "no issue").
All the certificates are handwritten. I will set about making copies of the pages & post snippets of what you have suggested as soon as I can. Thanks for your reply. I really need help with this as I'm getting nowhere. I thought the death certificate might break my brick wall but it just seems to have added another brick. 

[bramcor]

The first attachment shows the annotations about William Watson's first marriage on the birth certificates of his first two children with his second wife. I posted this here some time back as I needed help to try to determine the writing, & it was generally agreed that he married Susan Price, probably in Launceston. The dates differ slightly so I wonder if the second one was just copied from the first, but with an error - or perhaps William, the informant, just forgot the exact date.

[bramcor]

The second attachment includes snippets from the death certificate of Susannah Watson. I also included the bit that shows William, the informant, signed with his mark. This is the first indication I've had that he might not be able to read or write. His marriage certificate with Margaret Daley shows her signing with "her mark", but there is no such indication for him.

[bramcor]

And finally I've included the registrar details from all 3 certificates (death of Susannah, births of Alice & William Henry) - although the signatures differ slightly, I believe they are all written by the same man, probably Daniel Carter.