Wednesday 3 June 2015

Remarriages and Blended Families

Back in January 2015 I wrote about mixed or blended families and how common they are in almost everyone’s family tree – blog post Don’t Forget About Those Half-Brothers and Sisters.

In three of the parishes I look after as an Online Parish Clerk, Cornwood, Plympton St. Mary and Plympton St. Maurice, the church registers contain a great many entries of second and, sometimes, third marriages of residents. I took the time to go through the lists to see how many remarriages had occurred and if there were any trends in the numbers.

The oldest entries do not always have a lot of information about the individuals who married but most parishes appear to have consistently recorded whether the bride and/or groom were widows or widowers. Following are the numbers of entries in the marriage registers for the three parishes that indicate whether one or both parties were widowed:

Plympton St. Mary


Total Marriages
Widows & Widowers
% of Total Marriages
Both Parties Widowed
Females
Males
Total
Number
% of Total
1600-1649
659
15
0
15
2.3%
0

1650-1699
498
3
2
5
1.0%
0

1700-1749
432
15
0
15
3.5%
0

1750-1799
571
24
1
25
4.4%
0

1800-1849
608
37
55
74
12.2%
18
24.3%
1850-1899
761
41
75
95
12.5%
21
22.1%
1900-1949
1054
46
67
96
9.1%
17
17.7%
Totals
4583
181
200
325
7.1%




Plympton St. Maurice


Total Marriages
Widows & Widowers
% of Total Marriages
% of Total
Both Parties Widowed
Females
Males
Number
Number
% of Total
1600-1649
156
4
1
5
3.1%
0

1650-1699
299
7
0
7
2.3%
0

1700-1749
188
4
0
4
2.1%
0

1750-1799
168
9
12
18
10.7%
3
16.7%
1800-1849
170
7
20
22
12.9%
5
22.7%
1850-1899
204
19
16
26
12.8%
9
34.6%
1900-1949
305
9
9
14
4.6%
4
28.6%
Totals
1490
59
58
96
6.4%




Cornwood


Total Marriages
Widows & Widowers
% of Total Marriages
Both Parties Widowed
Females
Males
Total
Number
% of Total
1600-1649
No records prior to 1685


1650-1699
77
0
0
0
0.00%
0

1700-1749
166
0
0
0
0.00%
0

1750-1799
234
17
6
23
9.83%
0

1800-1849
285
13
17
22
7.72%
8
36.4%
1850-1899
316
10
12
17
5.38%
5
29.4%
1900-1949
288
8
12
13
4.51%
7
53.9%
Totals
1366
48
47
75
5.49%



One of the results of the analysis that stood out was the increase in number and percentage of remarriages over the decades, except in Cornwood parish. Also, in the early periods (17th century) the records indicate that the preponderance of people marrying for a second time was women. By the 19th century there were a great many more widowers than widows exchanging vows. I might have expected the reverse for the first half of the 19th century as many men had been killed in the war with Napoleon which must have left many widows at home needing support. Interestingly, until the late 1700s there were no marriages recorded where both parties were widowed.

We know that life expectancy was not great in the 1600s and 1700s. Occasionally epidemics would sweep through parishes causing untimely deaths. It is quite conceivable that men, because of their hard physical labour may have been more apt to be killed in accidents or die at a younger age. Men were also engaged as soldiers. In times of conflict or war, more men would have died, in many cases leaving young wives and families to fend for themselves.

The substantial increase in the numbers of remarriages, in particular, the number of widowers taking a second wife, do not appear to be related to major conflicts or diseases. Families with children were the most vulnerable when one parent was lost. Both widows and widowers married very soon after the death of their spouses in order to keep a household stable. As noted before formal adoption was not recognized until the early 1900s in England but families still needed two parents to ensure economic conditions remained firm and that the needs of children were fulfilled. The second marriage created many blended families I wrote about in my January post.

Perhaps, by the 1800s, women had more ability, through at least basic education, and opportunity, in growing communities and with industrial enterprises, to find employment outside the traditional home which had for centuries centred on the work of the husband. Thus women’s need to remarry was somewhat alleviated. Men, on the other hand, especially those with young children, needed a stay-at-home wife and mother in their household and would be more likely to remarry – and quickly.

A number of second marriages were between older people, often after both of them had been widowed – probably marriages of convenience as much as economic need. This was certainly true in Cornwood parish which is mainly a farming community. Before 1800, no second marriages involved both parties being widowed. In the 20% century over half of such marriages were between widowed people – the greater majority of them over 60 years of age.

There is no ready answer for all of the numbers yet. A study of particular families involved and a review of the causes of death of the spouses would shed more light on the matter.

Wayne Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program in England, handling four parishes in Devon, England. He has published a number of articles about various aspects of genealogy and is a past Editor of Chinook, the quarterly journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society. Wayne also provides genealogical consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated