Middle name provides vital clue
QResearch has led to my husband’s Gt-Gt-Grandfather Edward Hawkins, born on St. Helier, Jersey, occupation plasterer (census). A baptism has been found for Edward Mardon Hawkins on 25 December 1814, on St. Helier, Jersey, son of Edward Mardon Hawkins and his wife Elizabeth. No marriage has been found for them, however there is a marriage on 5 February 1814 in St. Helier for Thomas Hawkins, St. Andrews parish, St. Helier, and Elizabeth Horrell of Holsworthy, Devon. Could the vicar have made an error in the parish register and entered the same name for father and son? The names of the godparents (Joshua and Sarah Horrell) of Edward Mardon Hawkins provide some proof that it was indeed an error.
A Joshua Horrell and Sarah Udy, married in 1807 in Devon and had four children born and baptised in St. Helier, Jersey. Tracing the Horrell family reveals that one of their grandmothers was a Sarah Mardon, so it would appear that both Elizabeth Hawkins née Horrell and her brother Joshua Horrell had used their grandmother’s maiden name as a given second name for their sons.
Edward Mardon Hawkins only used his second name Mardon twice in records that have been found. Firstly in a report in the London Gazette, 17 June 1859; and the second time Edward used Mardon was on his second marriage on 14 June 1879 at St. Marys Lambeth to Julia Cooper née Wallis, a widow.
This leads to a second dilemma. The last time Edward Hawkins’ first wife Ann née Perry is recorded is on the 1871 census when they were living in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. No death has been found for Ann Hawkins between 1871 and Edward Hawkins’ second marriage in 1879. Was her death unregistered, did they divorce, was she still alive when Edward married Julia Cooper making it a bigamous marriage? The marriage certificate shows Edward Mardon Hawkins and gives his father’s name as Thomas Hawkins. Does this confirm the error by the vicar in St. Helier 1814 and what happened to Ann Hawkins?
