The Marriage That Never Was!

I've been playing around on Ancestry and looking at different hints, on side branches to find connections etc.  Well today I was looking for Jessie James, no not the outlaw but my great aunt.

Jessie was born Jessie  Elizabeth Grant on 18 Febuary 1868 at Ballarat, Victoria. In 1891, in Sydney she married Charles Frederick James and they had three children, Beatrice, 1893, Victoria May, 1896 and Frederick, 1898.

It is the near marriage of Victoria May, that I found.

It would appear that on 13 June 1916, John Laver, son of William Robert Laver(s)(dec) and Alice Miller(dec)  and May Victoria James, were to be married. They were both listed as living at 44 Bucknell Street, Newtown. He was said to be 25 and May, 21.

What Happened????

The image I have shows CANCELLED written right across both pages, with nothing else written, either on the certificate or in the margins. Just the details, required for the paperwork.

Discovering this has sent me off, searching both the New South Wales and Victorian Registery's of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Trove, Ryerson Index, Australian War Memorial, for any clues. Zip, zilch, zero, nothing to tell me why they didn't marry.

I did find May Victoria's death notice on 7 April 1952, it reads;

"JAMES, May Victoria - April 5 1952, at a private hospital, daughter of the late Charles and Jessie James, loved sister of Beatrice (deceased) and Fred."

[Sydney Morning Herald, 7 April 1952, p12]

So, did John do a runner? Wouldn't her parent give permission?   I'll probably never know.

  
St Stephen's, Newtown. Photo by L. H. Magill

Bye for now,
Lilian.

Comments

  1. Ooh a mystery - sounds like you have looked everywhere, and I guess no descendants have photos?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As both her and her sister didn't marry, I don't think there are any photos. I know Fred did marry, so will chase along his line.

      Delete
  2. You need your sleuth hat on! A real mystery. Sounds like he did a runner at the last minute.

    ReplyDelete

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