Q&A

ANTHONY ADOLPH is a genealogist, and wrote Tracing Your Aristocratic Ancestors

MICHELLE HIGGS is the author of Tracing Your Medical Ancestors

REBECCA PROBERT is a legal historian and the author of Marriage Law for Genealogists

JAYNE SHRIMPTON is a professional dress historian and portrait specialist

ALAN STEWART is a family history writer, and author of Grow Your Own Family Tree

STEPHEN THOMAS is a genealogist with over 20 years’ experience

PHIL TOMASELLI is a military family history expert, and wrote Tracing Your Air Force Ancestors

SIMON WILLS is the author of Tracing Your Seafaring Ancestors

Why did my ancestors have two weddings 14 years apart?

Q Why would a couple, Joseph Collins and Catherine Johnson, have two marriage certificates, 14 years apart, in the same church – St Bartholomew’s, Edgbaston, Birmingham? There is no evidence of a divorce or that it is a blessing. It is definitely the same couple as the signatures are exactly the same.

Raymond Fowler

There are many reasons why a couple might go through two marriage ceremonies. Working out the most likely explanation in any given case is a matter of evaluating the facts against what we know about different types of remarriage. We can quickly rule out the second ceremony being the public affirmation of an earlier, more private marriage in light of the time that elapsed between the ceremonies and because