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I will get Matilda Freeman's birth certificate to see what that tells me.
I have copies of John Freeman's baptism record and marriage certificate and on both his father is named as Robert.
DNA comparison would be the ideal, but I can't see that happening. I'm the grandson of John Freeman's youngest daughter, Fanny Marie, so I'm not much use. John did have two sons, but I don't know if they have any living descendants and of course I don't know about Robert and Mary Ann's son Robert, whether he had any male descendants. I had a smile to myself about the possible reaction of two complete strangers to the request "can we have some of you DNA? we think your ancestor may have been a bigamist"
I will post how I get on with Matilda.
Ro.W
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For those who have helped me with Robert Freeman I have some interesting news.
As suggested, I got the birth certificate for Matilda Freeman and that said that her parents were Robert Freeman and Mary Ann Freeman (formerly Jackson). I then got the marriage certificate dated 1864 of Robert Freeman and Mary Ann Jackson.
In this Robert Freeman said he was a widower and his father was Thomas Freeman, a farm labourer. This corresponds with what I know about my ancestor. Mary Ann Jackson describes herself as a widow and her father was William Crump, a tailor.
I have found a record of a Mary Crump marrying a William Jackson in 1842 and records of the deaths of a number of people called William Jackson between 1861 and 1863.
So it looks to me that although they were married to different people, Robert and Mary Ann moved in together and lived as Mr and Mrs Freeman and had three children. It was only after the death of Mary Ann's husband do they eventually get married. I'm not sure if it is significant, but they married in a Register Office. Whether Robert assumed his wife was dead or just didn't care will probably never be known, but it looks as if the marriage was bigamous as Elizabeth, Robert's first wife, outlived him by about 5 years.
This is a good story, but I think I will leave it there (unless there are descendants of Robert and Mary Ann out there somewhere who want to contact me). I have plenty to investigate in other parts of my family. Thank you to everyone who helped me.
Ro.W
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