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
