[list-cumbria] Bogus marriage: George GREATHEAD & Ada ELLWOOD

[Steve Hayes]

We have been greatly puzzles by what appears to be a bogus marriage. 

On the surface all appears to be in order. 

George GREATHEAD married Ada ELLWOOD on 24 Sep 1898 at St Matthew's Church in 
Habergam Eaves, Lancashire. Banns were called at St Martholmew's, Colne. 

The bride appears to be Ada ELLWOOD, who was born about August 1876 in Sawrey 
(now in Cumbria). Her father is given as Thomas ELLWOOD, postman in the 
marriage register, and this fits Ada ELLWOOD of Sawrey.

The main problem is that Ada ELLWOOD of Sawrey was in the USA at the time, 
and on 27 Mar 1900 she Married John Barrney C RUSSELL at Knox, Illinois under 
her maiden name, and correctly gave her mother's maiden name as Agnes 
GARNETT, so she was without doubt the real Agnes ELLWOOD of Sawrey, whose 
father Thomas was a part-time postman. 

She appears as single in the 1881 and 1891 Censuses in England, and from 1900 
to 1940 in Whiteside County, Illinois. 

The couple who got married at Habergham Eaves, on the other hand, appear on 
no censuses before or after the marriage, and their antecedents seem pretty 
murky. From their ages given at marriage, George GREATHEAD would have been 
born 1871-1873, and Ada ELLWOOD about 1874-1876. 

Perhaps someone else can think of a source that might show that they actually 
existed under those names, and that will show who they really are. 


-- 
Keep well, 

Steve & Val Hayes
Blog: 	http://hayesgreene.wordpress.com
Web:	http://www.khanya.org.za/famhist1.htm	
E-mail:	shayes at dunelm.org.uk or if you use Gmail, hayesstw at telkomsa.net
Phone:	073-759-0353 (cell) 012-333-6727 (landline)