Genealogy Forum UK

I have been ploughing through at rate of knots a couple of branches of my HEATH family, all thanks to a birth certificate which arrived today.

Those of you familiar with my saga, William James HEATH moved to Inida with family, which I am trying to establish that they were the HEATH's who set up Heaths hotel and were mentioned in the Nilgris guide, owning a confectioners and rest room.

ANyway, the daughter of William, May Bowtell (HEATH) married a William Griffiths TASSELL, the had a daughter called Mary Lillian (TASSELL) b. 26 Oct 1907 in Madras, Madras, India

Mary Lillian married a Daryl Robert George Peal in 1931initial searches indicate he is a commissioned officer in the Indian army. One search in google, which you can do, throws up an entry for the news paper, The Northern Times (Carnarvon, WA Australia, which reports that a Captain Roberty George Peal filed for divorce from his Aunt. He married his Aunt in India, but the courts said it was Null, his wife did not like this and filed counter claim, i was going to copy and paste, but the website has some outage, so I will post the full article later.

I found this record on familysearch, Now, if you are marrying your Aunt, I assume you want to hide this by changing your name a bit. We all know that people use middel names etc anyway, but I am certain this is the same person with his Aunt.

Surprisingly his Aunt is a lot younger, she was 17 to his 22. The marriage took place in 1921. his name is listed as Robert Derryl Peal
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FGJ3-TNM

Rather Scandalous I think! I would imagine that not many family members would be too forthcoming in making this history known.

Here we go.
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/74948296
MARRIED HIS AUNT.

Invoking a law made in Henry the Eighth's reign prohibiting marriage within certain, degrees of kindred Captain Daryl Robert George Peal, a man who married his aunt, sought annulment of the marriage in the London Divorce Court last month. His wife cross-petitioned for a restitution of conjugal rights. Both being Catholics, they were married in India, following the church's special dispensation removing the consanguinity difficulty. The wife contended their Indian domicile out-ruled the husband's application. The judge in his judgment said the Indian statutes did not alter the marriage laws concerning British subjects, therefore the marriage was null.

I found another news article which named his aunt as Delphine, however i am not concerned as this has to be the same woman, there is a later marriage entry Jan 1933 for a Delphine Monica PEAL, marrying another PEAL! Bernard Ashley Clement PEAL to be precise.

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FGJ8-KQC

Is she still keeping it in the family so to speak!

I may have joked about keeping it in family, but she did! Her "second" husband was Bernard Ashley Clement Peal, who turns out to be Daryl's brother.

Its kind of thrown the ancestry tree maker! It has no idea what to do .

How cosy!

Is this what people mean by skeletons in the closet?

You'd have thought she'd have known better second time around!!

I have one ancestor who married his sister in law after the death of his first wife - this was illegal at the time! No wonder they chose a different church!! In the eyes of the church once you married your in laws were regarded as being part of your biological family, so a sister in law was regarded the same as a sister!!!

Well reading the court report, she sees nothing wrong with it, arguing they are living in India and the Indian law does not forbid it, but of course they are still British citizens, so British law still applies. She obviously doesn't care about British law regarding this matter.

Looking at ages, there seems to be a bit more going on than meets the eye. I am burned out at moment trying to get my head around things but there is an indication that Robert Henry PEAL at the age of 63 married a woman in her 30s. If this is the right Robert PEAL, then it will account for the wide age gaps between his oldest and youngest children, with grandchild being born a few years before his daughter.

If this is the case, then there is another quirky co-incidence in that both his wives would have had the same name... it is a little difficult to establish just by using the family search basic records.

In my family tree I have Mary Pargeter who married her uncle, William Haden Richardson, he was the brother of Mary's Mother. At the time of the marriage in 1848, W H Richardson was aged 63 and Mary was 21 !! They wouldn't have been able to keep the marriage quiet as both families were very affluent in the Wordsley area. WHR was involved in the glass trade as was Mary's brother Philip.

I wonder how they got away with it.

BC Wench wrote:In my family tree I have Mary Pargeter who married her uncle, William Haden Richardson, he was the brother of Mary's Mother. At the time of the marriage in 1848, W H Richardson was aged 63 and Mary was 21 !! They wouldn't have been able to keep the marriage quiet as both families were very affluent in the Wordsley area. WHR was involved in the glass trade as was Mary's brother Philip.

I wonder how they got away with it.

Maybe people didn't realise how they were related. If the authorities found out then the marriage would have been annulled.
Were there any children? Niece and uncle is a bit close to my mind. Even cousins can have children with genetic syndromes, and that is legal.

The case involving my ancestors was illegal, and would also have been annulled if it had been found out, but they weren't blood relatives, and today the law no longer applies!

Not incest as such, but pretty weird..

My great grand aunt Ellen Jones marries William H Hollies, 6 months later her mother (2GGM) Mary Ann marries John Hollies brother to WHH..
but wait there's more..
in 1908 Nellie Hollies daug of Ellen Jones and WHH marries Oliver Hollies son of Edward Hollies, he's brother to both WHH and John Hollies... on the marriage cert everyone except the Vicar was named Hollies.. very cozy took me ages to get my head around this lot..

well you lot are weird your granmothers your aunt and also your 2nd cousin, but you will be granparent to the offspring

always liked the banjo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uzae_SqbmDE