In March 1900, James Wallace married Sylvia Giuliani in Sydney.1 Shortly after, Sylvia’s younger sister, Chelestina, joined their household. Chelestina would soon confess to her sister that she was “in trouble” and her son, Frederick, fathered by James, was born in February 1903.2 Much affronted by this, Sylvia left the matrimonial home for parts unknown.
Many years later, the sisters met by chance and Chelestina recounted that, in the intervening years, James had fathered more children and they had married in 1918.3 This disclosure led to James’s trial for bigamy in 1922. His defence, that he thought Sylvia must be dead, persuaded the Court to acquit him.4
Chelestina (aka Mrs Moore) was again involved in a high-profile matrimonial dispute in Sydney in 1927 when John Florance O’Donoghue’s wife, Emily, cross petitioned for divorce on the grounds of adultery. Despite John and Chelestina’s denials, the evidence was accepted.5
Surprisingly, John and Chelestina then appear as ratepayers for a parcel of land in the Parish of Stewart, located within Manning Shire, in the mid-1930s.6
John died in Taree in 1942, having been gored by a bull,7 but Chelestina seems to have married again, in Sydney, later that same year, to a John Lock.8
Author: Penny Teerman
References:
1 NSW BDM: Marriage 569/1900
2 NSW BDM: Birth 5546/1903 and child support details accessed via Ancestry.com
3 NSW BDM: Marriage 294/1918
4 Daily Telegraph Tuesday 17 October 1922 P6 and Truth Sunday 22 October 1922 P5
5 Truth Sunday 11 September 1927 P13
6 Rate Book 1935-1937 Riding A Manning Shire (Entry No. 1336)
7 Wingham Chronicle Friday 6 February 1942 P4
8 NSW BDM: Marriage 32949/1942
