Family obscura

Please don't give multiple generations of children the same 10 names

Genealogy research in a constant exercise in humility. Often, the answer you seek is staring you right in the face.

There are two sets of records for my spouse’s great-grandfather, Arthur Waldemar Martinson or Arthur Walter Martinson, each born to the same parents, eight years apart. Why? Because the first son died at age 8, and then a subsequent son was given the same name. It’s quite common, but it still surprises me each time.

Manitoba Vital Statistics provides unrestricted access to marriage records that are more than 80 years old. I estimated that my great-grandfather married his third wife in either 1957 or 1958, but I won’t be able to view the record online (minimal info only, we aren’t British Columbia) for free until the 2030s. I could submit a request for a paper copy, but it’s costly and it takes months. I searched the local newspaper archives, but it’s difficult to pinpoint without at least a rough date.

However, I inherited a stack of correspondence from my family. I haven’t read through it yet. I haven’t had the mental energy and it’s mostly in Polish. Today I perused the stack and found this, in its original envelope:

His divorce decree from his second wife was published in the newspaper five months earlier.