Genealogy: Another mystery
Aug. 15th, 2021 03:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dimity_blueI've been doing quite a bit of genealogy this week because it's absorbing and stops me thinking about how stressful everything is. I doubt I'll ever figure out just what was going on with this but it's curious.
My Grandad's great-grandparents were Thomas (1813-1858) and Catherine. They had 7 children together before Thomas died in July 1858. Catherine was remarried 4 months later to a man called George.
My first thought was: "4 months?!" with a huge side-eye. Then I found out Thomas died of liver disease - gastritis. Which didn't exactly persuade me Catherine's rapid remarrying was anything but suspicious.
But wait! There's more!
George was born around 1830, so he was some years younger than Catherine. That's not the interesting bit. What is interesting is Catherine's age.
Catherine was:
21+ in 1842 as her marriage certificate states she's full aged. So she was born 1821 or earlier.
36 in 1858 according to her second marriage certificate. Born 1822.
Aged 35 in 1861 according to the census. Born 1826.
Aged 50 in 1871 according to the census. Born 1821.
Aged 78 in 1891 according to the census. Born 1813.
I've double and triple checked because Catherine is such a common name but she was living with at least one of her and Thomas's children every time, and his surname was an uncommon one. I also rechecked Catherine's ages but I didn't misread them.
Interesting, am I right?
My Grandad's great-grandparents were Thomas (1813-1858) and Catherine. They had 7 children together before Thomas died in July 1858. Catherine was remarried 4 months later to a man called George.
My first thought was: "4 months?!" with a huge side-eye. Then I found out Thomas died of liver disease - gastritis. Which didn't exactly persuade me Catherine's rapid remarrying was anything but suspicious.
But wait! There's more!
George was born around 1830, so he was some years younger than Catherine. That's not the interesting bit. What is interesting is Catherine's age.
Catherine was:
21+ in 1842 as her marriage certificate states she's full aged. So she was born 1821 or earlier.
36 in 1858 according to her second marriage certificate. Born 1822.
Aged 35 in 1861 according to the census. Born 1826.
Aged 50 in 1871 according to the census. Born 1821.
Aged 78 in 1891 according to the census. Born 1813.
I've double and triple checked because Catherine is such a common name but she was living with at least one of her and Thomas's children every time, and his surname was an uncommon one. I also rechecked Catherine's ages but I didn't misread them.
Interesting, am I right?