Mistakes! Mistakes! and Bigamy!

I received an anxious phone call from my brother-in-law, 'You do this genealogy stuff don't you'?

'Yes', I replied.

And so, he recounted how he was concerned that his Father may have been leading a double life by being married to two women at the same time; or at the very least had been married before, something he or his siblings were not aware. They were concerned that their father may had been committing bigamy. My ears pricked up! There was obviously a mistake; but I could understand and hear the anxiety in his voice.

I began my research and sure enough, it appeared his father had been married before - there it was on someone's family tree, his father married to someone else, only a few miles from their family home. Was this a double life from a quiet family man?

I delved some more. It wasn't true at all.

Someone had clearly linked the wrong person to another, in this case my brother-in-law's father had wrongly been set as the husband of another lady. There were two people with the same name, who lived in the area and were of a similar age. I believe they were distant cousins.

Phew panic over and no bigamy in the family. The relief in the family was enormous.

It just shows how we genealogists must really play our part in ensuring the accuracy of what we do. Today, with online records and family history sites, it is so easy to just respond to hints and assume they are making the right connections. Everything must be validated and properly sourced otherwise my brother-in-law will have no hair left.

It all made for an interesting couple of days of juicy family scandal.

"Scandal! Two wives at the same time"