Genealogy Chat

Hi all and Happy new Year, Ok I am new to this and no doubt will be asking some 'dumb' questions. that said I have found an entry on 1837online for my fathers first marriage. His name is correct the area is correct the date is correct but the wife’s maiden name is not?! She was a widow so I though that she may have used her 'original' maiden name, if that makes sense? is that a possibility? or do widows use there 'original' maiden name? Strangely the birth entry for the daughter later gave her maiden name as her widowed name...confused ? I am?!?! ah well maybe it will all make sense after a few pints tonight! have a great new year Ian Laidlaw

Legally she could call herself by whatever name she wanted. If she was known by her maiden name after she was widowed, then chances are she'd use it in her certificates. If you know that at some point she definately acquired that surname and everything else fits, it's probably the right certificate!

Ian I have a few references to maiden names where the wife's maiden name has been recorded like this "Smith or Brown". In this example Smith was her name at the time of the marriage because she had previously been married whereas Brown was the name she was born with and therefore her true maiden name. Hope this helps. John

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I will have to go back and try to find out what her surname was before either marriage, I only have her widowed surname. There was me thinking that this would be straight forward!! Cheers Ian

Hi Thomas If you send for your fathers marriage certificate it should have his wifes maiden name also any other married names that she had, as I found with my grandmothers marriage certificate. I was then able to trace her other marriages and birth certificate. Hope this helps. Valerie

That’s right Valerie but is should have an even better pointer, the father of the bride. So if the marriage cert says "Brown, formerly Smith" and the father is Smith its a very good bet that she is a Smith. Though it is not guaranteed. Bob

Happy new year to you Well i'm glad to find i'm not the only one i have a simular problem. i can't find my dad's g.mother anywhere, on my g.dad b.cert mother maiden name it say's Pixeon but no record on census or other serches for marriages/births but i do know that she had another daughter so i was wondering if she used her maiden name or what was her first marriage name on the birth cert. Getting very confused. Have a good day Suzanne

My mother had 8 children fathered by 4 different men and she used a different combination of their surnames as her name on almost all our birth certs. Imagine the fun I had finding my 4 half siblings!!! Great feeling when I did though!!

Ian, In some cases the maiden name was kept as a second name and passed down through the family, hence the double barrel names which some people use to this day.

A marriage certificate asks for your 'Name and Surname'. So consider a woman born Jane Smith, who had previously married John Brown (and John had died). She would probably say Jane Brown when she subsequently married William Jones. The giveaways would be in the columns 'Condition' which would say Widow and the 'Father's Name and Surname', which might say Peter Smith. However beware that a birth ceritifcate asks for "Name, surname and maiden surname of mother" so when Jane has William's children she would probably say Jane Williams, formerly Smith.