Mary Ann Hallum / Watson (Howard), b3 - Bigamous marriage date & illegitimate kids - Help :-)

Thanks for letting us know, Brian. Private User is our ace in this area - so I'm going to alert him to take a look too. Other profile followers might want to jump in & help y'all with your armchair research
http://www.geni.com/people/Bj%C3%B8rn-H-Grunnv%C3%A5g/6000000001428...; Private User.

If you log all changes that you make on the profile in this discussion then we can always go back & check all our reasoning if the error (if it's that :-) happens again.

Please let me know if anyone needs more access permissions in order to edit.

I've added her to the 1820 settler Howard's Party Project: http://www.geni.com/projects/1820-Settlers-Howard-s-Party/10034
Please check that this is correct too.

I originally found those dates in Pamela Barnes' book "Through the chequered path: the story of William Howard's party of 1820 settlers", but they do seem to be confirmed by Ancestry24.com, and Jemima's mother is done on her 1829 baptism certificate as Mary Ann Hallum, while the father is named as Richard Watson

I don't think we have an exact date of death for George Hallum, but at the very least Jemima appears to have been born out-of-wedlock.

By the time of Richard and Mary's 1837 marriage, Mary is listed as a Widow.

Since we don't have a date of death for George Hallum, and we know he was in the military, I wonder if he might have been lost in action during some military excursion, and as a result Mary Ann might have had to wait for him to be declared dead, before re-marrying?

That, or it was simply bigamous.

The Cape Town Archives does hold a petition from 1834 from Mary Ann which might relate to this issue, that maybe someone can go look up; the summary of the record specifically calls her "Wife of George Hallum".

DEPOT KAB

SOURCE CSC

TYPE LEER

VOLUME_NO 2/6/1/13

SYSTEM 01

REFERENCE 199

PART 1

DESCRIPTION MOTION. PETITION OF MARY ANN HALLUM, WIFE OF GEORGE HALLUM.

STARTING 18340000

ENDING 18340000

Thanks, craig - you're a star! I do seem to recall thinking about this case - or something similar - and deciding that might be the solution too.

I had a look at Mary Ann's petition in the Cape Town Archives:

Source: KAB, CSC 2/6/1/13, Ref: 199

"The petition of Mary Ann Hallum, of Port Elizabeth, wife of George Hallum, late of Grahamstown.

"That your petitioner is to institute against her said husband George Hallum for a dissolution a venculo matrimonial on the grounds of wilful and malicious desertion and not having wherewithal to defray the necessary expenses in support of which she has annexed the required documents."

According to the above-cited document in the Cape Town Archives, George Hallum went on a waggon ride to Port Elizabeth with two of Mary Ann's brothers in Nov. 1825. During this trip George exhibited mental derangement, abandoned the waggon and has not been heard from since.

At the time this petition was filed, in 1834, Mary Ann believed George to be dead, having exhausted all means to find him, including posting notices in newspapers.

Well done to Sharon and Craig for all attempts to resolve the early years of Mary Ann Howard. The wagon ride and disappearance in 1825 makes it all clear. A last question: Which newspaper/s would she have used for 'posting notices' .?
Best regards,
Brian Margetson

Hi Brian,

The petition didn't specify any newspaper titles or dates of publication, I'm afraid; perhaps someone else might know which newspapers were available at the time.

Best,
Craig

NOTE from Private User on John Henry Howard, b1c1 (c1830 - 1892): Both Pamela Barnes Through the Chequered Path and SA Genealogies name John Henry Howard's mother as Harriet (Harriet Howard); but in John Henry Howard's 1892 Estate Papers his mother is named as Maria Anna. Could this be his aunt: Mary Ann Hallum Watson Holl, b3?

In 1845, Mary Ann Watson, widow of Richard Watson, made a request for a plot of land upon which to build a cottage:..."That memorialist is a laundress and has 4 children, the youngest however is 10 years of age"

Could John Henry Howard (c1830 - 1892) be the 4th child - born between marriages - after the disappearance of George Hallum in 1825 (due to the collusion of her brothers??) and before marriage to Richard Watson, SV/PROG in 1837?

Certainly Jemima Ann Page 's birth in 1829 is during this period.

Certainly, his purported father, John Henry Howard, b1 only marries Harriet PEERS (Pierce) in Somerset-Oos 29.3.1835 - 5 years after his birth.

Although Pamela Barnes, Through the chequered path: the story of William Howard's party of 1820 settlers says "Early in 1831 William Howard traveled to Uitenhage to visit his eldest son John Henry, who lived there with his wife Harriet and their year old son."

and SA Genealogies says

John Henry Howard x Somerset-Oos 29.3.1835 Harriet PEERS (Pierce)

b1 Henry *9.12.1832 ≈Somerset-Oos 7.4.1835

b2 Harriet ≈Somerset-Oos 7.4.1835

b3 Jemima * 10.5.1839 ≈Cradock 13.10.1839