The topic for Week 3 of #52Ancestors is 'Favourite Photo'. I have a number of copies of old family photos that I have acquired over the years, copied from originals owned by generous relatives and shared around. I would have to say that my favourite, however, is the wedding photo of my great grandparents James Nicholas Clark and Pricilla Veronia Mulholland.
James and Pricilla married 3 August 1898, almost a year after his divorce from his first wife Eliza (nee Hawley). James and Eliza had married in 1886 and had two children together - Ruby born 1886 and Clarence born 1888.
The marriage was clearly an unhappy one, and in 1891 Eliza had abandoned James and their two young children. In the divorce proceedings it had been claimed that Eliza had been a habitual drunkard and had been living with two men after she abandoned her marriage, although the judge saw no direct evidence of adultery and granted the divorce on the grounds of desertion only.
The divorce was reported in the local newspapers at the time, usualy amongst general reports of local court procedings, including the article shown here from the 'Caulfield and Elsternwick Leader'. Waiting a suitable interval after his divorce, James then remarried. He and second wife Pricilla are pictured above.
This second marriage was much more successful, with James and Pricilla having twelve children together before James died in 1924, age 69. Pricilla herself would later remarry, although she had no more children. Pricilla died in 1976, only a few months short of her 100th birthday.
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