So,
I've been compiling a database of bigamy cases in the Monaro area.
At first I thought WOW there's so many cases, what the hell is going on but then I began reading the statements and reports and noticed that many had the same 'theme' in common.
Man marries woman. Man and woman have a few children. Man needs to travel away from home to procure decent work to support his growing family.
At this point it appears either the man or woman (maybe both) start getting lonely, have a little affair and next thing you know 'someone' is pregnant.
What was the expected thing to do back then if a man got a woman pregnant? Marry her!!!!!
Imagine back in those days of no computers and no one really having telephones. When 'snail-mail' was slower than snails.
I can imagine the man thinking "I'm so far away from home and no one knows me here, I won't get caught." and "if I don't marry her and she complains to her parents/towns people I might lose my job" and "if I don't marry/support her and the child she'll have me charged for deserting the infant, then it will be in all the newspapers and my wife/family will find out"
Another thing I have noticed during researching is that many of the first marriages were often 'shotgun weddings'. These were mainly young couples, where the marriage date is August 1887 and the first child born October 1887.
I can imagine the pressure these two young'uns were under to get married, whether they wanted to or not, so it's not hard to understand why sooner or later one or the other would 'do a runner'.
Following these lines back, you often find that these young couples parents also faced the same dilemma of the 'shotgun wedding'.
At first I thought it was just a bunch of scoundrels all doing as they pleased but after having a good hard look into it, I see it's just a bunch of lonely people, battling a very hard way of life.
The husband a hundred miles away from his wife and family for months upon months at a time. Working for meagre amounts, sleeping rough, eating rough and then sending as many $$ as he could back home to support his wife and children.
Many, with no education, would have just been doing odd jobs/farm work, bunking in the employers barns or sleeping under the stars and eating the extras (basically leftovers) from the employers family meals. Knowing back home the bills were growing and your family were in distress.
The wife at home, alone, batting to care for and raise a handful of kids. Never sure when her husband would be home or when money was coming in. Battling the landlord and creditors (shops etc) promising to have some money soon, could they just give her another week.
Remembering here that Landlords and Creditors would have already been caught many times by husbands away working, that disappeared. They would not have been happy nor NICE to the wife and her children who were building up quite a bill without any idea when the next $$ were coming in.
Imagine when the husband did come home!
The Landlord and Creditors would have been screaming at him and demanding full payment.
His wife would have been complaining about him not sending enough money and all the trouble she'd had.
He would be expected to work at home. Chop and store wood to keep the fire going while he was away next. Clean yards, fix fences, patch the dwelling, cart water, reprimand the kids, sort out the bills, pay creditors, extend his credit line to cover his next trip away, shop and stock up the pantry/feed shed plus a hundred other things before he rode out on his long journey back to his work.
Of course, there are those that seem to just be bad eggs but the numbers don't come close to those who seem to have been caught up in a hard life.
I'm not making excuses for anyone, just trying to comprehend the life situations that appear to lead to a great deal of these bigamous marriages.
