Traded His Wife & Children to His Brother for a Watch

TRADED OFF HIS WIFE: PECULIAR BIGAMY CASE TRIED AT COBOURG George Albert Reynolds Disposed of His Wife to His Brother Walter For a $15 Watch-- All Three Sentenced and the Deal is Off Source: The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont]09 Jan 1903: 1. 

This lurid bigamy case caught my eye while I was browsing online newspapers. Imagine trading your wife and children to your older brother. For a watch. For anything!

It seems Mrs. Reynolds was happy with the deal and I wondered if she ever did go back to hubby #1 after all three of them were charged with bigamy.

So I had a hunt for the culprits to find out what happened after the verdict.

Let's start with the marriage of George Albert Reynolds to his wife, Annie Clark. According to the online marriage record on Ancestry it took place in Peterborough on 10 December 1900. George and Annie were both 20. George's parents are recorded as George Reynolds and Mandy Hickerson so it should be easy to verify George's older brother Walter.

It didn't take long to find that Annie was still married to George when she died in 1921 at the age of 35. Her death occurred on 6 January in Northumberland County. Source: Ontario Canada Death Records 1869-1947

My one question was answered and I admit to being surprised that Annie stayed with George after their arrest.

I was curious about the two children who were passed from George to Walter and back. Their son William was born in August 1901 and their daughter Jenny in December 1902. Another bit of a shock! Little Jenny was only 1 year old when the arrest was made. The article states that Walter Reynold came back to Canada from Michigan and married Annie in November 1902. That would mean that Jenny was not yet born and Annie was 8 months pregnant.

Walter was born in 1878 and died 24 October 1923 in Coburg of Typhoid Fever. He is recorded as being unmarried. Source: Ontario Canada Death Records 1869-1947

However a search of marriage records showed Walter marrying Lulu Maud Peling on 20 March 1911 and living with her and their three children in the 1921 census for Brighton. The children were Edith 9 years old, Mary 6 years old, and John 3 months.

This is one of the more bizarre cases I've encountered. What odd things have you found in your genealogy research?




  

Bigamy & Jail: Rachel Eves & Her 4 Husbands

A wedding is supposed to be a joyous occasion. But for Rachel Eves Fardy her many marriages led to trouble. On 19 August 1899 a lurid headline hit The Globe newspaper:

HAMILTON: Mrs. Rachel Faraday Pleads Guilty of Bigamy

 

The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. 19 Aug 1899: 20.

I was curious. I wanted to know more about Rachel. Why was her husband in the Home for Incurables? It was established in Hamilton Ontario in 1890 as St. Peter’s  Home for Incurables and cared for patients suffering from dementia or other chronic ailments.

An interesting tidbit is that her second husband was also a bigamist and was using the aliases of George Mavery and George Smith.

To give Rachel a voice and to tell her story I needed to find out more. A search of historic newspapers found several more articles that provided clues to further research.

After her short prison sentence was done, Rachel married two more times - to Frank Van Norman and then to Elias Slote. Her life was full of tragedy and challenges, from the deaths of two sons to the suicide of one husband and the chronic illness of her first.

Bigamy & Jail is Rachel's story - the story of a young woman enduring endless hardships yet finding the strength to go on, all the while doing the best she can to protect her children.

The Bigamist in My Family Tree

Olive May Peer, born November 1898 in Port Credit Ontario, share a common Peer ancestor. Her 3rd great-grandfather Jacob Peer, who I wrote about in the book "The Peer Family of North America" is my 4th. great-grandfather. My grandmother, also named Olive Peer, was Olive May's cousin.

In February 1927 Olive May married Robert Jackson. She could not have known that her husband was using an alias, that his real name was Robert Rodgers, and that her husband would be charged with two counts of bigamy and sentenced to time in jail.

The story of Robert's arrest and sentence appeared in The Globe (1844-1936); Toronto, Ont. [Toronto, Ont] 24 Sep 1927: 16.

This was a revelation for me in my research. My Peer ancestors were always mixed up in something wild - from the tightrope walker Stephen Peer (my great-grandfather's cousin) to the first base jumper Harmon Peer (great-grandfather's brother)

According to the newspaper article Robert Rodgers married Kathie Elliott in 1914 before enlisting in the military. They separated but did not divorce in 1917. That was wife #1.

Later Robert married Cecilia Wallace. That marriage did not work out and they separated but did not divorce.

His third wife was poor Olive May.


September 1927 finds another brief article in the Toronto Daily Star (1900-1971); Toronto, Ontario [Toronto, Ontario]24 Sep 1927: 20. The judge in the case seemed to view Robert's crimes very favourably, which I find stunning.

The Toronto Daily Star (1900-1971); Toronto, Ontario [Toronto, Ontario]11 Nov 1927: 24. has more news of Robert, telling its readers that there is only one prisoner in the Brampton Jail and that is Robert. He was serving 3 months for Bigamy and apparently suffering from rheumatism, which prevented him from being transferred to Guelph.

I was curious about what happened to those three wives (and Robert) so I began my research.

I discovered more secrets including an alias that Robert used when he married Olive. I learned much more about his three wives (Jessie Cathie Elliot, Cecilia Wallace, and Olive May Peer) and the children they bore with Robert.

The stories of the abandoned wives are now told in my newly published e-book "The Bigamist in My Family Tree: Robert Rodgers 1890-1953 & His 3 Wives"  available on Amazon