JTS Responsa 15 b

1914

Yes

The status of a woman and her child, born out of a levirate marriage, when there is now doubt as to whether the first husband perished in a ship wreck.

A man left his home and went abroad. After some time news arrived about a ship that sank in the sea. Among the list of casualties is the name of this man, along with a list of belongings found in his clothes, including a silver watch with his name engraved on it, and a gold ring engraved with his initials. His brother then performed a levirate marriage with his brother's wife and they had a son. After a year had passed, a woman arrived from a foreign place, and said that it was in error to count the disappeared man among the casualties, because she saw him several times in her city, before she left about four months ago. He himself told her his experiences, about the breakup of the ship from which he escaped alive with a few others. This matter was looked into to try to find the man, but they could not find him. And now they came to ask what is the status of the mother and her child.

Courtesy of Jewish Theological Seminary (MS R1604)