Fickle Flynn's families

​Would it be possible for a man to have three wives, all living in close-proximity, without getting himself into very hot water?
Dunedin man Thomas Patrick Flynn gave it a good bash, but ended up being living proof that it cannot be successfully pulled off.
Flynn, born in Launceston, Tasmania in about 1862 to John Flynn and Jane (nee Gilway), arrived in New Zealand in about 1895 working as a labourer in the Arrowtown area.
He lived a reasonably unremarkable life for the next 13 years – apart from his penchant for matrimony – until he was arrested in Dunedin in December 1908 and charged with two counts of bigamy.
Dunedin media took pains to point out that Flynn, who they described as balding, middle-aged and somewhat unattractive, was hardly a catch.
The arrest may have come as a bit of a relief to Flynn, but he did not get away without the pain of all three women being together in the same place – to give evidence against him in court.
Flynn’s first wife Margaret Ann Hay told the packed courthouse that she married him on 15 November 1899 in the Roman Catholic Church in Arrowtown. They lived together for about three years having four children, only one of whom survived.
In about 1903, Flynn went to Canterbury and then Dunedin but he and Margaret remained in contact, obviously “close contact” as in November 1904 she moved to Dunedin with their two-month-old son.
Margaret was suffering from ill-health so did not move in with him for six months.
Unbeknown to Margaret, 10 months earlier her husband had become someone else’s husband too. Giving Flynn some credit, he did fess up to Margaret and told her that he had got the other woman pregnant and married her too. Margaret forgave him and they moved back in and were still together at the time of his arrest.
Flynn’s second wife then took the stand.
Mary Ann Pearson Skinner told the court she had married Flynn on 4 February 1904 at the Knox Church Dunedin. He had told her he was single.
Mary Ann said she had met “Tom Flynn” about two years before their marriage. The couple had a daughter in 1904 and lived together for about eight months until she found out about the first wife and gave him his marching orders.
She said Flynn claimed he had lied about being married because he wasn’t happy with his first wife.
Flynn’s third wife Isabella Grant told the court she had married Flynn, (who was then using his mother’s maiden name of Gilway) on 3 November 1908 at the Dunedin Registry Office. She knew him as Thomas Henry Gilway.
Isabella said she had met Flynn in 1907 and he too told her he was single – despite still living with Margaret. After their wedding, she became pregnant to him and in 1908 gave birth to a daughter.
The evidence against Flynn was overwhelming and at his next appearance in court on 7 January 1909 he pleaded guilty to two charges of bigamy and two weeks later, possibly to his great relief, he was sentenced to five years in prison.
Thomas Flynn died in Dunedin on 6 November 1935 aged 73 years. He is buried at Anderson’s Bay Cemetery. In death he is alone, as he is the sole occupant of the plot.
Title from the Evening Star and photo from Julian Hochgesang.