Fearless Females 2013: Day 19: Surprising Fact

Have you discovered a surprising fact about one of your female ancestors? What was it and how did you learn it?

One of the witnesses to the marriage of my paternal great great grandparents - John HAYWOOD and Johanna MURCH - on 30 September 1869 in Ottery St Mary was a lady called Jane PAGE.  I had never heard of her, but thought perhaps she was a friend of the family.

Johanna died young in 1875, aged only 31, from complications following childbirth.  John, with three small boys to look after, one of whom was an infant, quickly remarried, this time to a lady called Eliza DREWS.  The couple stayed married until Eliza died in 1902, aged 56.

Then the 1911 census was released, and I searched it to find John - only to find that he had married for a third time.  I searched other records for his marriage, and found that he had remarried only a year after Eliza had died - to a lady called Jane PAGE, the witness at his first wedding (the one to Johanna).  Was she more than just a family friend, then, I wondered?  She was born in North London, Middlesex.  What was she doing in Devon?

Once again, in honour of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.  I know this is really US-centric - but that's not going to stop me honouring my own Fearless Females...