Page 56 - Just another English family (Sep 2019)

‘Harold’ (1896-1948), Horace Arthur (1905-1977), Norman Eric (known as ‘Eric’) (1907-1971) and Frederick (1909-1990).
Finally, there is John and Hannah’s last child, John (1852-?) to consider, but apart from living in the parental home in the 1861 census, nothing more is known about him. Certainly he does not seem to be a direct ancestor of Soothills living in 2011, but it is curious that there is no registration of his death. Perhaps he is another candidate for emigration and, thus, one needs to be alert to that possibility as one considers Soothills now living abroad.
However, there is certainly more to tell in relation to this part of the family. In my first search of the newspapers in relation to the name of Soothill, I found an account in the Derby Daily Telegraph (21 February 1906) of a Soothill under the headline REMARKABLE BIGAMY CHARGE. The article talks of a James Soothill aged 60 being committed before the Assizes on a charge of committing bigamy in marrying a young woman aged 31 with his wife still being alive. It tells of a child being born at the end of January with his ‘wife’ first learning that he was a married man just a week ago. The report indicates that the prisoner pleaded not guilty and reserved his defence. Bail was refused, but currently I have no information on the outcome of the case.
From the 1861 census there appear to be only two contenders for the doubtful title of ‘James the Bigamist’. These are either James who is the son of John and Hannah (née Tasker) or James who is the son of Abraham and Martha. In fact, nothing is known about the family of Abraham and Martha apart from the entry in the 1861 census and, to date, I have assumed that the family emigrated. Hence, of these two, the other James (1846-1922) seems the more likely, for there is other circumstantial evidence as there is mention of James’s sons telling the second ‘wife’, but there is another contender. In short, there is yet another ‘James’ of the appropriate age who for some reason was not included in the 1861 census. James has been mentioned earlier as the illegitimate son of Hannah, Thomas and Elizabeth’s first child, who was born on 7 November 1844. James married Eliza
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