Welcome to the Scotchmer One-Name Study Blog

Way back in the early 1990s there was a publication called Genealogical Research Directory (GRD) where people could pay to register surnames of interest within their Family Tree. I checked the copy at my local library and there was a lady in Canada looking for Scotchmer in Liverpool.  I wrote to the lady and her sister Beth replied as the family historian within their family.

Bigamist or Not

The reply from Beth was fascinating-Samuel James Thomas Scotchmoor (SJT) according to the family story either died by falling down stairs when his daughter Ann Mary Jane (AMJ) (Beth’s ancestor) was a small child or he was a bigamist. Also Beth believed there was a connection to Liverpool. AMJ was born in early 1840’s but I could not find a death for SJT. I replied that I would keep an eye open for him.

Newspapers-Vital Source

A couple of years later I came across an Index to The Times Newspaper for James Thomas Scotchmore. There was a Bigamy case at The Old Bailey. The report was about  court case held on 17 September 1849. When I checked the full report he had actually been married three times. It was his second and third wives who found out that he was already married and reported him. I later found a transcript of the Court Case at The National Archives.

There is a report from Shipping and Mercantile Gazette  9 Aug 1849 which gives a summary of the background and his arrest in Liverpool. Beth was correct about the Liverpool connection.

The Old Bailey proceedings can be found at https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t18490917-1747?text=james%20thomas%20scotchmer

Basically he took each of his wives for every penny he could get from them then deserted them.

His first marriage was to Elizabeth Williams on 5 May1828 at Christ Church Southwark. They had one son and there are descendants.

His second marriage was to Ann Cordell on 22 Sept1840, at St. Saviour, Southwark-she was a widow who had a pub but everything was seized for rent and, together with her children from her first marriage, was left destitute.

His third marriage was to Mary Field (Beth’s Ancestor and mother of AMJ). She left him after he tried to strangle her. Again he left her destitute together with the daughter (AMJ) who he fathered.

He was sentenced to 7 years transportation on each charge having been found guilty on each count.

Family Gratitude

I let Beth know everything I had found and she was extremely grateful. She sent me some money, presents and a thank you card signed by as many of her family as possible.

Not the End of the Story

I happened to be checking The National Archives (TNA) Catalogue after I had let Beth know and came across James Thomas Scotchmore again.

CO 37/135/37 at TNA

22 Apr 1851: Dispatches from Charles Elliot, Governor of Bermuda forwards a statement of three convicts named James Scotchmoor, William Carter, and George Martin, who had received serious injuries in public service [not included in volume; sent to the Home Office]. Recommends them for pardons.

Convict Establishment No. 31, folios 232-235

I looked at the original record of the above and he injured his eye ‘in the course of  public service’.

He was pardoned because he turns up in England and Wales Marriage Indexes three more times. The final time was shortly before he died in 1874.

His final wife outlived him-she was probably lucky.

I let Beth know about the pardon and the subsequent marriages.

One of the big positives of doing a One-Name Study is being able to help other researchers and even solve mysteries as I did for Beth.