How do I determine if a child born in 1877's parents were actually married

+5 votes
174 views

Hello. My name is Jan Gooldy Kimbrell. My gr grandfather was born in 1877 and named Christian Andrew Christensen and was called Andy throughout his life. My gr grandfather was apparently born in Winneconne, Winnebago, Wisconsin 29 Aug 1877 to Chris  A Christensen(who is thought to have been named Christen Anders Christensen at birth but went by Chris A. Christensen in America) and Mary Andersen. There was another child listed on the birth record of my gr-grandfather but as far as I am aware there was no other child born to Chris A. Christensen.  Perhaps it was Mary who had another child before the birth of Christian Andrew Christensen, my gr-grandfather. These were Mormons and Lutherans at the time of emigration of Chris A. in 1873 so that might be possible of a polygamous relationship. I do have the partial birth record and a baptismal record which points that my conclusion might be likely correct. Still trying to fill in all the holes in the time line and the discrepancies of residences throughout the years. 

in The Tree House by Jan Kimbrell G2G Crew (790 points)
retagged by Jan Kimbrell
It could help if this question were tagged LDS too.
thanks. I went back in and edited it to add those tags. (LDS, Mormon and Lutheran)

2 Answers

+2 votes
Hi Jan, I am pretty new to all this, but I would think the only way to be sure would be a record of marriage, have you searched census reports and or Births Marriages and Deaths?  I know nothing about the legalities of polygamous relationships, ie whether or not they registered each union as we do with a certificate. I hope this helps a little, if not I am sure someone more experience will answer you soon.  Anne
by Anne Kenyon G2G4 (4.5k points)
thank you!
+5 votes
If they were Mormons you could search the records on familysearch.org. That site is run by the LDS church and has a very large searchable database that you can access for free.
by Dale Byers G2G Astronaut (1.7m points)
I have tried sorting thru all of those.  The names are so very common it takes a lot of work by process of elimination and some plain luck to narrow down the possibilities.  (I also throw it a whole lot of prayer as I search!)

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