My Ancestor was a Polygamist…

Or maybe a Black Widower.

My Grandma always used to tell me, “When you start to shake the family tree, anything may fall out, so beware.” Ain’t that the truth!

I have started getting involved in genealogy recently and have made some new, hilarious discoveries. For several years now I’ve been able to pin-point who one of our ancestors was; a man named Michael who’s surname shall remain blank (for the reason that I don’t feel safe putting my last name out there on the internet). Anyway, Michael was born in 1758 and married a woman named Berthena in 1783 who they had a son with; their marriage was of short duration. Either they had it annulled, or they divorced or just went their separate ways. Whatever happened between the two, Berthena isn’t mentioned again but what is interesting is that Michael later names a child after her that he has with another wife (Awkward!). Once he is single, Michael proceeds to marry a lady named Jemina who later dies in childbirth. This time Michael waits two years before wedding Elizabeth; together they have six or seven children. At some point prior to 1818, Elizabeth dies or leaves Michael because in 1818 Michael marries an eighteen-year-old named Ann. And there is actually a possibility that he had married a woman in between Elizabeth and Ann, but I haven’t found a wedding date yet.

Michael was certainly a busy boy. He lived a long life, and died in 1830, at the ripe old age of seventy-two. I know in those days that the records were sketchy and marriages were often recorded in a Bible or maybe not even at all. I’m not as familiar with the divorce/annulment process of that era, but I doubt it was as easy to end a marriage as it is today. So man had an easier time leaving his wife and marrying someone else. Does that make him a Polygamist? :~P. I might be being pessimistic here, maybe Michael outlived all of his wives.

I wonder if he really was a Black Widower…

Oh well, if you can’t laugh about it, what can you do?