Nathaniel Bucke - Bigamy by Mary Hills / Newport Hills

[nigels]

Am I going mad.....the names are rather unique is this a case of bigamy...

Newport Hills (Cambridgeshire) and Mary Legg (Surrey) married in London

1825 Newport Hills marries Mary Legg in London

1827 Thomas Legg Hills is born to above in London

(1831 George Bucke son of Nathaniel marries Jane Legg related to Mary). Introduces Mary to Nathaniel?

1835 Newport Hills jailed for larceny in Cambridgeshire

1840 Nathaniel Bucke marries Mary Hills (Nathaniel is quite old) in London

1841 Census Newport Hills back at home with mother in Cambridgeshire (Butcher)

1845 Thomas Legg Hills dies in London is buried in Mary's home village

1847 Nathaniel Bucke dies and is buried in Mary's home village. In the will of Nat he mentions Mary and child Thomas Legg Hills (but not his sons from memory). Nat was 71.

1851 Census Newport Hills and Mary Hills back together in London.( Mangling assume cutting meat)

1859 Newport Hills dies in London

Have I missed something

[Milliepede]

1840 Nathaniel Bucke marries Mary Hills (Nathaniel is quite old) in London

Is Mary down as a widow?  What was her maiden name?

Do the ages tally for her being the same person?

[avm228]

On the 1840 marriage Mary Hills is nee Legg. Both she and Nathaniel are widowed, of full age.

[avm228]

On the 1825 marriage Mary's maiden name is Legg.

[avm228]

Newport Hills was imprisoned for a month for larceny in Cambridgeshire in 1835, aged 28.

[avm228]

Having had a look, I agree that it appears the youthful marriage of Newport and Mary broke down (possibly quite early on, given that only one child was born) and that they came back together after Nathaniel's death.

[nigels]

That is what I can't understand Mary was not a widow but perhaps felt Newport had gone off and died...This may sound strange but Nathaniel son Geoege married Jane Legg in 1831 from the same Surrey village so perhaps introduced Mary to his dad...From looking at the Surrey stuff the Legg's seemed comfortable in terms of money.

Sorry for not putting in the nee names I have corrected that....Perhpas Bigamy is harsh but it seems Mary Hills nee Legg did commit Bigamy.

[avm228]

Yes, it does look that way.  It isn't all that uncommon to find bigamy when researching 19th century ancestors - marriages did break down and people could not easily divorce.

However it isn't common to find people back together later after an intervening bigamous "marriage", so this is an interesting case.

[nigels]

Thanks everyone, the Bucke are never simple, Bankruptcies in the family in the late 1700's , upsetting a charity that managed farm land that they had control of etc etc They could have a BBC Sunday night programme, and they were non-conformists so probably did not care about what the Church felt was right and wrong.