Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Hi,

I am looking for a possible marriage of a Mary Southern and Christian Hagbart Johannsen from Asker, Norway circa 1886. They are listed as being married on the 1891 census. By 1911 they claimed that they had been married for 31 yeas. Clearly someone was telling porkies!!

Previous research has revealed that Mary Cook/Southern marred an Edward Southern in Liverpool in 1876. She was 17 years old and I think Edward was considerably older. According to the 1881 census, Mary is living in Wavertree as head of household, with two children: William Edward aged 3 and 1 year old John. 3 year old Mary Cook, who I assume to be her niece, is also there and is described as a visitor. Mary is described as being a mariner's wife, with no signs of her husband. He could well have been away at sea at the time of the census.

Sometime after the census was taken, Mary must have moved in with Christian, as their first child,Thomas, was born in 1882 and her husband, Edward, completely disappears off the scene.

I am of the opinion that Mary and Christian never tied the knot. However, if they did marry, in the Norwegian church, would there be a civil record of such a marriage? Furthermore, I wonder what happened to her first husband, Edward.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards
Frank

Do you have the marriage certificate for Mary to Edward Southern? This will give his age or at least whether he was of full age (21) and will give his occupation and his father's name which could make it weasier to find him.

It's possible that when Mary is described as seaman's wife the seaman referred to is Christian.

Have you checked the GRO indexes for deaths at sea? These are on Find my Past and also in main libraries that have the GRO indices. Edward may have died. We need his age , occupation and father's name to try and find out what happened to him or where he went.

Hilary
Ed Officer

Hi Hilary,

Thanks for your reply. Since I posted my query, I have now found Edward. I knew from the 1881 census that his two sons were living with Mary. Thinking laterally, I looked for them on the 1891 census and found them with their father and' his wife', Sarah Southern. They also had a 2 year old son.

I have yet to find Edward in 1881, but suspect he may have been at sea when the census was taken.

I don't think that Mary and Christian married.

Regards
Frank