Most married person?

[Lindsay]

I've spent the day trying to sort out the many marriages of Michael Yates.

The total so far is 5:
1. Eliza (no marriage found, died 1726)
2. Mary Watkin (married 1727/28, died 1729)
3. Ann Brice (married 1729/30, died 1734)
4. Sarah (no marriage found, died 1746)
5. Prudence Furnham (married 1746, noted by the vicar as Michael's servant)
He died in 1781 aged 92, survived by his last wife Prudence who died aged 94 in 1818.

So, what's the most marriages for one person that anyone has found on their tree?

[ElizabethHerts]

Lindsay, you have beaten my ancestor Charles Alexander Alexander who married firstly Lavinia Hargreaves, a widow, in 1843. They had three children before Lavinia died in January 1850. Then Charles married Mary Porritt (from whom I'm descended) in August 1850. They had two sons, Joseph and Samuel, before Mary died in 1855. In March 1856 Charles married Ann Jackson. They had no children and Ann died in 1860. Finally, Charles married Ann Sylvester in 1861. By 1871 Ann had disappeared. I don't know if she left him or died. Charles died in 1880 of cirrhosis of the liver, so he was probably alcoholic, which might explain it if Ann left.

So he had four wives.

[WendyPusey]

My niece has been married 6 times, so far and she is only 40! Does that count?

[Merry]

My niece has been married 6 times, so far and she is only 40! Does that count?

lol Wendy, so still time for more?!!

I have a man on my tree, Edwin Arthur Brassey Crockett, who was married five times and the first four wives all died in childbirth. The fifth survived him, possibly because she had no children.

[ElizabethHerts]

My niece has been married 6 times, so far and she is only 40! Does that count?

Wow! That must have involved a lot of expense!

[vita]

Can't compete with Lindsay's five, I'm afraid. My Most Married is 2xg/grandfather Henry

William Headland with three.

Ann(m 1833) died five years later aged 27 leaving two young children.Caroline(m 1842)

died in 1849 at the same age as Ann & also leaving two young children. Finally, in 1849

he m Lucy - and died of erysipelas six weeks later. I've always thought what rotten luck.

[vita]

Sorry - 3rd marriage should have read 1859.

[Olde Crone]

My ex husband married at least five times that we know of. I was wife number one, I hasten to add!

I have an umpty- times ggf who married four times, the little rascal. Wives one and three had exactly the same names which caused me no end of grief until I realised they were two and not the same woman. The fourth wife I missed for years because he married for the last time at age 79.He had 22 children spread over 47 years and the oldest was already a grandfather when the youngest was born.

Incidentally I only managed to sort all this out thanks to monumental inscriptions AND browsing the parish register. Conventional research didn't reveal the full story.

OC

[Durham Lady]

Best I have is Samuel Dodsworth born Grimsby in Lincolnshire in 1822. He married 3 times in Mexborough, Yorkshire and produced 19 children.

[crawfie]

I have Thomas Henry Augustine Penny, who was baptised just as Thomas Penny, who married 7 times between 1883 and 1927. However as all except the first of his marriages were bigamous, and mostly under fake names, I'm not sure they count! He did spend a lot of time in jail, for various reasons, but every time he got out he remarried.

[Lindsay]

However as all except the first of his marriages were bigamous, and mostly under fake names, I'm not sure they count!

Lol!

Interesting that the most-married people seem to be men, though I suppose they're easier to spot than women who marry multiple times.

[vita]

Lol!

Interesting that the most-married people seem to be men, though I suppose they're easier to spot than women who marry multiple times.

I think a lot of women weren't around long enough to marry multiple times(!)

What with the hazards of childbirth, daily workload etc. At least, that's what it

looks like in my family.

[Nell]

I only have one relative married 3 times, my gt x 2 grandfather, John Purvey, who lost two wives young and fathered 15 children altogether. His last wife was the same age as his eldest daughter (my gt grandmother). Quite a few of my relatives married twice but I think women who had a decent amount of money didn't feel the need.

Most frustrating is my gt grandmother Emma Moore, who married gt grandfather Thomas Matthews. He died on their 14th wedding anniversary in May 1879 and she reappears in 1881 census with 2nd husband John Garvie. So a short time in which to remarry but I haven't been able to find the marriage. Only mentioning it now in case someone stumbles across it!

[crawfie]

A very distant twig on my tree married one of the many granddaughters of Brigham Young, who had supposedly 55 wives, but he doesn't really count.

[Olde Crone]

She's not in my tree but I followed her anyway, the way you do, lol. A woman who married (4?) times and never had the same surname twice on successive census. All her husbands died.

OC

[Macbev]

Can't beat that record, but OH's Scottish ancestor, Walter Hooks married four times.
1. 1844 to Hannah Love, who had one son (Walter II) before she expired
2. Jane McMaster in 1852, who managed two daughters before dying in 1857
3. Sarah Boag in 1858, who managed two daughters and a son,before dying in 1893
4. and then his housekeeper, Agnes Walker, whom Walter buried in 1907 (no children).

Walter died in 1908, aged 86, and thus had no chance at a fifth spouse.
I have a rather gorgeous photo of 4 generations all named Walter Hooks, all coming through the eldest son.

[marquette]

Can't beat 5 either, the most I know of in my tree is 3.

John Iliffe married Sarah Wilford in 1816 and had 8 children, after she died in 1832, he married Phoebe Boot in 1839. She died in 1859 and in 1862 he married Harriet Pitts - she outlived him and remarried.

Sophia Lee married Nicholas Linn in 1786 - after 7 children he died in 1803 and she married William Chatham in 1804, another 2 children. When he died in 1815, she married Daniel Haylarr in 1819. Daniel outlived her by a year and a half.