Barry Cobb (barc2 @t iinet.net.au) of Australia writes: Ada SAPSED (born Dec 1873 Hitchin Vol 3a p222 [born Graveley, 1901 census]) married George James CRANE (born 13 Apr 1873 in Finchley) on 1 Oct 1898 in the Parish Church, Graveley, Hertfordshire (sources: UK National Archives and copy of the marriage entry). 

George enlisted in the Army and served in South Africa from 1 Nov 1899.  He returned to England on 15 Sep 1902 (sources: his service medals and the UK National Archives). Ada CRANE appears in the 1901 Census living with her parents, Francis and Caroline SAPSED, in Church Lane, Graveley.

George emigrated to Australia around 1909 and re-married there in 1914 claiming he was a widower.  However, whether or not he was really a widower is open to question.

I have not been able to find out if Ada, his first wife, indeed died in the period between 1901 and 1914 or if she perhaps had divorced George and possibly re-married. I have not found any record to suggest that there were children from Ada and George's marriage.

Perhaps you might be able to resolve what happened to Ada.

I am afraid I am not going to be able to provide an answer to your question, especially as there is no evidence that Ada and George lived in Hertfordshire after his return from South Africa but if I review the possibilities it might help you to know where to look.

Clearly there were cases of people emigrating and inventing their past when they arrived in their new country. One of my wife's relatives reverted to being a bachelor on travelling from New Zealand to Australia, his first wife having returned to England. One of my own relatives  went missing "presumed drowned" on a trip to the seaside with the family in about 1900 - and contacted the family some 20 years later from Australia. One must always be on one's guard in such cases -  although there may be some truth in their stories - see for example What did your Ancestor call himself?.

There is one interesting point - if you admit that you are a widower you open yourself to questions about your first wife - and it you are concealing something it may be better to pretend that you never married.

Divorces involved going to court - and if the family was poor (I note that Ada's father was a roadman in the 1901 census) a divorce was unlikely - but undocumented separations of course occurred. The Family Records Centre has an online leaflet about divorce records.

If Ada died in England virtually the only way to find out if she died would be to check the online Death Certificate index quarter by quarter (which helpfully includes age at death for this period) for an Ada Crane of the right age, and buy the certificate(s?) to see if the details fit (including who registered the death). If you know what George did, and where he lived, after his return from South Africa this could help narrow down the search.

If this is negative she may not have died, and George may have been a bigamist. However she may have remarried herself (as Ada Crane or Ada Sapsed) - or left England. For instance she may have travelled to Australia with George and either died on the boat trip, or once they had arrived in Australia.

If she was still alive and in England, living as Ada Crane or Ada Sapsed, she could be recorded in the 1911 census. Normally this would only be available from January 2011 - but there has been some talk of it being released earlier so you may not have to wait so long.

In some cases wills can be helpful - particularly those of well-to-do childless aunts and uncles. However around 1900 most people did not leave wills - so this is probably not relevant.

There is a web page for Graveley

If you can add to the information given above tell me.

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