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MULTIPLE MARRIAGES
You expect some surprises when researching your family history. It's one of the things that makes it so interesting. I did not, however, expect the surprises delivered by my 4x great aunt, Rebecca Scarborough.
Rebecca was born in 1816 in Barking, Essex, the daughter of Edward and Mary Scarborough. I found five potential marriages for her: to George Churchyard in Barking in 1839, to Joseph Outen in Stratford Bow in 1842, to George James Wellington in Poplar in 1856, to Samuel Cox in Poplar in 1859, and to Joseph Ogden in Plumstead in 1864. In all cases the parish register shows the bride's father as “Edward Scarborough” and other than the marriage to Samuel Cox, when she was named as “Rebecca Wellington”, the bride was called “Rebecca Scarborough”.
I was fairly sure that the witnesses to the second, third and fourth marriages included a sister (a different one in each case). I thought Rebecca might have been desperately unlucky with the health of her husbands, but I could not find a death record for any of the first four potential husbands around the relevant dates or in the general area. Could i be dealing
