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Chatfield Bigamous Marriage?

jmadone

jmadone

master brummie
I have a family tree member named Emily Chatfield Bn. 7/7/1863 in Manchester. Died 1936 Birmingham.
On May 10th 1887 she married a man named Show Levein at Bishop Ryder. She is described as a spinster, he as a bachelor.
The following year 1888 they had a son named Joseph Show Levein. After this date I can find no further trace of either father or son.
On 2nd February 1889 she married Thomas Washington Holt at Christ Church, Sparkbrook. The parish register describes her as a spinster and he a bachelor.
I am wondering what happened to her first husband and son and whether this second marriage was bigamous. They did go on to have 6 children from this marriage.
 
It's hard to see how her second marriage wasn't bigamous (unless Show & Thomas were the same person).

Assuming they're not then there seems a reasonable chance that Show was of foreign ancestry, which can make it difficult because the variation in name spellings can be strange. Or he may have anglicized his name.
 
MWS said:
It looks as if Joseph died 1889, registered Sep 1889 Aston as Joseph Charles Levein Holt.
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so at the time of little josephs death emily had dropped his middle name of show...can anyone make out the name of shows father on the marr cert to emily it looks like yerish to me and put together with surname levein could this be a jewish name...just a thought

lyn
 
It is transcribed as Yieri. I wondered if it was Russian/Jewish in origin. Is Charles an anglicised version of Show?
There is an S Levin b 1860 on the sailing list for US in 1889. Unfortunately it is not the helpful list with addresses
 
pjmburns said:
It is transcribed as Yieri. I wondered if it was Russian/Jewish in origin. Is Charles an anglicised version of Show?
There is an S Levin b 1860 on the sailing list for US in 1889. Unfortunately it is not the helpful list with addresses
Click to expand...
yes i spotted that sailing jan but as you say not useful
 
Might be able to check landings in the US - think they might be on Family Search.
I wondered if he came over here as a refugee and already had a wife somewhere. - hence Emily's second marriage as a spinster.
 
not sure if this means anything but i was looking at the 1911 for emily and second husband thomas holt..10 children born only 6 still living ..thomas holts place of birth is usa and along side that is written british subject by parentage

lyn
 
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MWS said:
It looks as if Joseph died 1889, registered Sep 1889 Aston as Joseph Charles Levein Holt.
Click to expand...
MWS Thanks for that, I hadn't seen that before as I was searching under the surname Levein.
Astoness said:
so at the time of little josephs death emily had dropped his middle name of show...can anyone make out the name of shows father on the marr cert to emily it looks like yerish to me and put together with surname levein could this be a jewish name...just a thought

lyn
Click to expand...
Lyn that's how I saw the name. I tried a search under that name for immigration to UK but no luck.
pjmburns said:
It is transcribed as Yieri. I wondered if it was Russian/Jewish in origin. Is Charles an anglicised version of Show?
There is an S Levin b 1860 on the sailing list for US in 1889. Unfortunately it is not the helpful list with addresses
Click to expand...
Jan thanks for that. Is this on Ancestry? My searches don't show this and for arrivals into USA you need international subscription which I don't have.
pjmburns said:
It could be that Show was the bigamist and that the second marrige for Emily was legitimate.
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Jan I hadn't thought of that. If this was the case and Show was the bigamist could Emily legally declare herself as a spinster in the marriage to Thomas?

Thanks to all for your replies and work on this.
 
Astoness said:
jim did you see my post 9

lyn
Click to expand...
Yes Lyn I did. The 1871 census has Thomas' parents being born in Dudley and Worcester respectively. Their oldest child on the census was born about 1852 in Birmingham. The next child Lucy was born 1855 in USA as was Thomas bn. 1858. The next child James was born in 1864 in Birmingham so his parents must have been in America for at least 3 years and obviously didn't give up their British citizenship.
 
jmadone said:
Yes Lyn I did. The 1871 census has Thomas' parents being born in Dudley and Worcester respectively. Their oldest child on the census was born about 1852 in Birmingham. The next child Lucy was born 1855 in USA as was Thomas bn. 1858. The next child James was born in 1864 in Birmingham so his parents must have been in America for at least 3 years and obviously didn't give up their British citizenship.
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ok thanks jim...so the mystery of show levein continues...

lyn
 
Astoness said:
ok thanks jim...so the mystery of show levein continues...

lyn
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Yes I'm afraid so but thinking more about it I'm beginning to think more along Jan's lines and that Show was the bigamist.
Given the short amount of time between the two marriages and the birth of the child Joseph my feelings are that Show deserted Emily and her child and fled to America. The sailing that Jan mentions in 1889 is looking more and more like it may have been him but I have no means of proving this.
 
pjmburns said:
There is an S Levin b 1860 on the sailing list for US in 1889. Unfortunately it is not the helpful list with addresses
Click to expand...
The sailing us on normal Ancestry but is simply a passenger list. Sometimes they have addresses from UK but thus one doesn't.
Will try Family Search later when I have shopped and Tai Chi'd (if that is a word). Not used to their change if layout yet so will see what I can spot.
 
I was a year out when I typed post #6
This is the transcript
1642602645918.png
Interestingly there seem to be several naturalization applications in USA for people called Shae or Shaw Levin. Most born in russia - but can't be sure if any are the one you want. I even saw one who said "wife not in country" on the form. Most dated after 1900 as there had to be a residency first - I think.
 
pjmburns said:
I was a year out when I typed post #6
This is the transcript
View attachment 166405
Interestingly there seem to be several naturalization applications in USA for people called Shae or Shaw Levin. Most born in russia - but can't be sure if any are the one you want. I even saw one who said "wife not in country" on the form. Most dated after 1900 as there had to be a residency first - I think.
Click to expand...
Janice that's great thank you. It seems more than a coincidence don't you think? Tell me did you find this on the UK version of Ancestry or the international one? I searched and searched on UK ancestry with no results whatsoever.
 
The applications are on Family Search. (Free to use but not, I think, easy to use). The big problem is there is no info about DoB or where they travelled to the US from.

The bit I posted is on basic Ancestry - I don't pay for overseas.
 
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jim have you yet thought to trawl the british newspapers online just in case show got into some sort of bother and maybe took himself off to usa

lyn
 
Couldn't some of the name mystery be due to the fact that 'Show' couldn't read or write.

His witness Thomas Decalmer was living in Duke Street 1891., the address that 'Show' gave.

A possible reason for an annulment of the first marriage may have been that 'Shows' Russian jewish community would not have recognised a marriage to a non jewish wife, especially in C of E. church. in those days.
 
You never know what might turn up in the future, so I would not give up totally. If there's a record of him leaving England (assuming it's him) you would think there's got to me one of him arriving somewhere.

Returning to original question, the most likely answer still seems to be Emily marrying bigamously after being abandoned. First marriage Bishop Ryder, second Christ Church Sparkbrook
 
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hi mark in case you want to edit your post i think you meant to say not to give up lol...that aside i agree with you...dont give up just yet jim but marks idea of what happened could well be correct...i usually have a break for a while from family mysteries and come back to them with fresh eyes

lyn
 
Alberta said:
Couldn't some of the name mystery be due to the fact that 'Show' couldn't read or write.

His witness Thomas Decalmer was living in Duke Street 1891., the address that 'Show' gave.

A possible reason for an annulment of the first marriage may have been that 'Shows' Russian jewish community would not have recognised a marriage to a non jewish wife, especially in C of E. church. in those days.
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I understand what you're saying about the acceptance of the marriage amongst the Jewish community but that wouldn't affect the legality of the marriage and I wouldn't think that there was a divorce in those days as I don't think they could have afforded the costs involved.
 
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