Writing this in February 2024, with the full benefit of hindsight, it all seems so easy to now make sense of the various documents that have been available to us. I remember in 2016, visiting the grave of my great great grandparents Daniel and Mary Leggett, near Corton in Suffolk, at the entrance to a small country church. The headstone, now worn with age and tilting badly stands as a sort of sentry on the path at entrance to the church. As well as noticing the names of my great great grandparents (my father's ancestors) I also saw mention of the youngest daughter, Maria Morris, widow of her husband Henry Morris.
Looking at other documents, in particular the census entries for the mid Victorian years I could never quite correlate how her age seemed to change in an odd way and also why at one point she was known as Mary Ann, but becoming Maria in her later life. The names are similar, but Maria seemed a strange nickname for Mary Ann. Then this week I had a sudden moment of clarity and realized that possibly Henry Morris had been married to Mary Ann, born in 1822 and subsequently to Maria born in 1832. Partly the error came from inadequate research on my own part in the early days, and not keeping citations so I had no record of why I thought Mary Ann had died in Sussex.
Again in the early days of my research, I gave nicknames to some of my ancestors, to differentiate between different generations with the same Christian names. I even gave them nicknames to help me remember their occupations, so I had people like John the Bookseller, and Thomas, who was a solicitor I had nicknamed Thomas the Wig. I had entered these nicknames in my PC-based software and later exported the Gedcom files and uploaded it to sites like Ancestry and MyHeritage. Over the years I noticed that other people had copied my work including these fictitious nicknames. I even had one ancestor who was an upholsterer, and I nicknamed him William the Sofa, and even that joking nickname has been rapidly copied.
This week with George Daniel Leggett's sister I decided to start writing everything in a neat chart and I realized that while the four children had ages which increased in ten year steps, Henry Morris's wife's age changed unusually. It is widely known that women in Victorian times were often a little 'economical with the truth' with regard to age but even this didn't help me make sense. Then, looking at the wider range of George Daniel Leggett's siblings I suddenly had a possible revelation. Perhaps Henry Morris was married twice, to two of George's sisters. As soon as I started exploring this possibility everything fell into place.
I found the 1854 marriage of Henry to Mary Ann Leggett, and then I started wondering if Mary Ann had died at an early age. I quickly found a death record for Mary Ann Morris in Devises in 1876.
The death was dated sixth November 1876 at The Pelican Inn. Mary Anne Morris. Female. 54 years. Wife of Henry Morris, an innkeeper. Scirrhus of the Pylorus certified by Thomas B (illegible). X the mark of Maria Leggett sister of deceased present at the death the Pelican Inn Devizes. Thirteenth November 1876. James John Pelose(?) Registrar.
The logical next step was to find a remarriage of Henry Morris to George's other sister Maria, and I quickly found a suitable marriage, oddly in Hoxton in East London just nine months after Mary Ann had died. On both marriage records Henry's occupation was listed as 'Servant', even at a time when his job on census records was 'Innkeeper'. His father each time was 'Thomas Morris' and both his brides listed their father as Daniel. On Maria's record his occupation had changed from 'farm servant' to 'bailiff'. In Victorian days a bailiff was an overseer of one or more farms, rather than the meaning it has today. Thomas Morris's occupation changed from 'Farm Bailiff' in 1854 to 'Farmer' in 1877.
It seems slightly odd that Henry and Maria married in London. I note that Henry's first child with Mary Ann Leggett, as well as his first marriage, both took place in London. Perhaps both weddings took place in London as it was more convenient for Henry's West Country relatives, and the Suffolk-based Leggetts.
Looking at Maria's ages on the later censuses and on her gravestone in Corton church it now all fitted together and the only thing remaining was for me to prove that the Mary Ann Morris who died in Devises was in fact Henry's first wife. I ordered the marriage certificate and, lo and behold, it showed that she died at the Pelican Inn in Devizes in Wiltshire of something called Scirrhus of the Pylorus in 1876, and the announcer of the death was none other than her youngest sister Maria. The cause of death is a particularly unpleasant blockage of internal organs.
It was then easy to imagine that Maria had helped Henry through his bereavement and the two had become close, and ended up married. This was not unusual in Victorian times especially where one party had young children who needed a mother or father. (On another branch of my family tree a man marries two sisters yet again).
Henry himself died in 1893, as confirmed by various records, as well as the probate entry,
Maria left Devizes and returned to Corton, where she lived in the early years of the 20th century. She died age 79 which fitted in perfectly with the age given on the headstone in Corton church. After all this fell into place I wrote to the current owners of The Pelican Inn in Devizes and they were very pleased to hear of my research. They sent me documents showing that The Pelican had been owned by a William Henry Morris, which is odd as I can find no record of Henry Morris being called William Henry. That's another investigation!