'The missing' Stephen Feening

[sparrett]

Mmmm..
Well, forgive me for being pedantic about irrelevant aspects of this  converstation, but if you're getting married on a day, don't you usually have arrangements for shared lodgings that night?
He obviously had an income ,as a greengrocer so it's not that and if he planned marriage with a "lead-in time" which there must have been, he should have been thinking ahead about the marital abode

Her going home to gran seems very odd to me and I am beginning to wonder about Selina's side of the story.

Sue

[Weyman_85]

Mmmm..
Well, forgive me for being pedantic about irrelevant aspects of this  converstation, but if you're getting married on a day, don't you usually have arrangements for shared lodgings that night?
He obviously had an income ,as a greengrocer so it's not that and if he planned marriage with a "lead-in time" which there must have been, he should have been thinking ahead about the marital abode

Her going home to gran seems very odd to me and I am beginning to wonder about Selina's side of the story.

Sue

I too thought it rather odd to be heading separate ways on their wedding night...? In their divorce court papers it was noted that Stephen placed Selina in a coach and sent her home to her grandparents as he had an early start to Sydney the next morning. I'll see if I can get the exact wording copied here. Not sure if it's relevant but it also came out a day or two after the wedding that Stephen hadn't paid the coach driver.

Sel

[rosball]

Whoops I notice I mislabelled May Martha RIORDAN's death notice as Martha May RIORDAN's death notice.  Sorry!

I was just double-checking that I had the correct lady by searching for her death in the NSW BDM in 1971 and even with wildcards I cannot find her death in the index (to check her parents).   

Selina, I did check for a probate for May Martha RIORDAN in case she kept in contact with Stephen
(and was responsible for divying up the probate from the father).   But none there.

Sue I will send you a link to the divorce to cast your eagle eyes over them.

Ros

adding 2.42pm : found it on NSW BDM under surname of O'RIORDAN and with parents of Martha and John

[Weyman_85]

Selina, I did check for a probate for May Martha RIORDAN in case she kept in contact with Stephen
(and was responsible for divying up the probate from the father).   But none there.

Ros

Good thinking Ros! Bugger there wasn't one there but thank you for checking!!

[rosball]

Just adding that I found the death on NSW BDM indexed under O'RIORDAN May Martha, with father John and mother Martha at Blacktown.

Yes a pity Selina ...

adding : and yes I checked for a probate under O'RIORDAN but no

[rosball]

As a long shot I have been reading through the WW1 service records for his brothers Alfred and William to see if perhaps Stephen enlisted under a brother's name.

William FEENING https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=11989259
I think we can discount William as sadly he was killed in the war.  There are details of correspondence between Army and father about what was to be put on the grave and surely his father would have revealed his real name at this point! (one anomaly is that father initially requested a Star of David on the grave although he was C of E but this seemed to be a mistake).

Alfred FEENING https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=8334005
Alfred is 5'4" with brown hair and blue eyes - not impossible I suppose (but Stephen was 5'6" with fair hair and blue eyes in police report).  Nothing in records to indicate it was not Alfred.

Someone who is good at comparing signatures could compare with that on marriage certificate

Ros

[majm]

So the couple were married 11 June 1906, and by 4 July 1906 the bride had 
  already involved the police in a search for him, obviously they did not find him locally, and so 
she had proceeded, faced a Magistrate, explained her concerns, and
the Magistrate approved for a warrant issued for the arrest of her husband,

So by 4 July  the Penrith police had already forwarded their paperwork to Sydney for printing in the NSW Police Gazette ... to that point in time, he was still being considered as a living person .... and likely still within NSW ... (Arrest desirable within the State)

     The charge was to be 'wife desertion' and no mention of a charge of 'child desertion' nor any court order requiring him to pay maintenance ... perhaps insufficient time lapsed between 11 June 1906 and the date of the warrant (earlier than 4 July '06) for there to be such court order for maintenance or more likely ... a court order for maintenance may have needed a warrant to be issued to find him in the first instance... 

   Also, err ... perhaps the marriage was not ever consummated ...

A Question : when did the suggestion he was in America first get raised ...  


JM

[majm]

Here is a snip from the AIF record, page 5,   November 1915, Alfred.


JM

[majm]

In my opinion ... others may well have different views 

Compare 'S' in Alfred's address - not same hand
Compare 'F' in Alfred's signature (twice in the snip) - not same hand
Compare 'g' in Alfred's signature - not same hand


ADD snip from reverse side of 1906 marriage (similar to his signature on front)


JM