Please help me to sort out this man and woman's relationship or relationships.

Question

I have been working for the last few hours to add collateral relatives for the Connect-a-Thon challenge and have run into a bit of a snag.

Mary Frances Pressley (Pressley-707) was my great-grandpa's sister. She was married to a Harkness man. I *thought*, until now, that she was married to John M. Harkness. And maybe that was her husband's name. But, I found her in the 1920 census, living in the household with a man by that name, not as his wife, but as his stepmother. Then, in the 1940 census, they are listed as husband and wife.  

I have disconnected John M. Harkness(born 1883) from her as a husband. I don't know at this point what her Harkness husband's name was (maybe the above mentioned guy was a Jr, I don't know). I cannot find the profile that I created in order to put the Wiki ID for him here.

Can someone please help me to get this sorted out?  Thank you in advance for any help that you can offer.

Answer 1

Mrs. Mary F. Harkness, age 47, married John M Harkness, age 39, in 1922. See Here. She must have been married to another man named Harkness. My grandmother was married to a much older man, and then married his son.

I cannot find them in 1920, that would help.

Comments

Thank you, Nancy, for trying to help me.  I appreciate it very much. 

I can't get that link to open. It keeps giving me an error.  I don't know what I'm doing wrong.  I just found the marriage record. Thanks for letting me know where to find it!

I found Mary in the 1920 census, widowed, and listed as stepmother to John M. Harkness.  1920 Census - Mary F Harkness

I also found her listed in her father's obituary (he died in 1931) as Mrs. John Harkness.  Obituary - Richard Simpson Pressley

Richard's father (my 3rd great-grandpa) was married twice. Richard and his brother were from the first marriage.  His father's 2nd wife and his brother's wife were sisters.  I can't even begin to figure out the various relationships the children involved would have to each other. It gives me a migraine just thinking about trying to sort them out. :)

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Thank you so much for your help. I still haven't found anything about her first Harkness marriage, but thanks to you, I have been able to reconnect her as a wife to John M. Harkness. I appreciate your help very much!

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Glad I could help. From the 1920 census, it does look like she was first married to John M. Harkness's father. Might take some searching, but with time you hopefully will find that marriage record! And thanks for the star!

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You're very welcome for the star. :)

Going by the 1900 census, John and his sister Allie aren't the biological children of Luther. In the relation to head of household column, it calls them adopted son/adopted daughter.  1900 Census  

While I haven't found documentation beyond the FindaGrave memorial and census data, it appears that Luther was married 3 times. The first two times were to sisters Mary and Vessie Pettigrew, then to Mary Frances Pressley. 

If the birth years and the marriage year for Luther's marriage to Vessie are correct on the 1900 census, then the first wife, Mary Pettigrew was the mother of John and Allie, but that still leaves the question of who their biological father of record was. 

Thanks again!