James Birchenough born 1816 in England he was a sculptor/ carver/ stonemason and had many children from different relationships, the first his wife Ellen Hussey and after starting a relationship with his lover Mary Jane Helme ( my direct line ) and even had one daughter to a much younger woman before he left for Massachusetts USA and married a woman called Ellen, his fist wife, Ellen Hussey died 1876.
Yes as you may already suspect from many different conflicting documents, our james had more than one family.
In his will made the day before his death in 1885 he mentions Mary Jane Helme as living in Clayton Le Moors Lancashire England, his last address was 39 P street Boston, Ellen lived there for some years after his death and she married again in about 1903/4 and died just a few years later, they are buried together at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Boston USA.
David Kearns, New Zealand.