How can I trace a female ancestor when the connection is broken by a name change at her marriage?

Question

I have a problem with the 1880 census. The wife is always listed with her last name as her married name and no maiden name is included.

Answer 1

Hey Quizkid,

Good Genealogy question. You cannot depend only on census vital records. You will need to find record of the marriage. That will give the Date of Marriage, and parents of both the man and the woman. That will tie your female ancestor to a maiden name. That is the reason most ancestor branches that stop early in the tree, stop on the female - it is difficult. But keep looking for that record. Sometimes the Obituary for the person will list their maiden name also, so you should see if you can find her Death Certificate, and any obituary.

Given that the Woman died after 1880, the chances of finding an Obit or Death Certificate are quite high. Also, if you use the GENFORUM to chat with people of the same surname as the married name, perhaps they have already done this work for you, or can assist with a death record.

Wills and Testaments may also help you, probate court and the settelement of the will may list the maiden name as well.

Here are some Vital Record sites. Remember to look up the Town, City, and State Vital Records - Town is cheapest, then State is usually more expensive. There are services that will find the records for you - they charge an arm and a leg. $4 to $40 is the usual range for a record cost.

Note, DNA will not help you. The Genealogy DNA research is based on a male surname ancestral trail - direct only. I put the site to prove it.

Answer 2

When researching my family,I noticed that quite often the mothers maiden name was given to the children as a middle name.Especially in the time period you are asking about.My tree is loaded with examples of this.For example,my grandmother and all her siblings had the middle name of Freed,so from that i understood that my great grandmothers maiden name was Freed.I am from Pa so I don't know if it is just a regional thing or if that was a common thing all over.If all the children have the same middle name,you can almost bet you have figured out the maiden name.Hope this helps a little.

Answer 3

If you have the record for the 1910 census, look at the status column which shows married, single, divorced or widowed. In that column in 1910, the census takers asked the married persons in each household how many times they had been married, and they put in the column to the right of it how many years they were in the present marriage. If your female ancestor in 1910 stated that it was her first marriage, and she had been married for 35 years, then go back 35 years from 1910, and you get around 1874-1876 for the marriage year.
You can search familysearch.org for International Genealogical Index records showing your male ancestor marrying in that year bracket, and may be able to find your female ancestor. If you get a positive match based on the names and the general location where they lived in 1880, unless they had migrated to new farming areas in the west, you may have the right marriage record. Once you have that, you can go to or contact the county courthouse where the marriage was performed to get a copy of the marriage license, if the courthouse has not burned and the license burned with it. If the county does not have a record, there are many genealogists who transcribe stuff like that and publish it into volumes, which are available at the libraries in that locality.
If you do not believe the information is accurate at familysearch.org, or you want to further confirm the data, you can post a message at a county message board like this one:
genforum.genealogy.com/tn/knox
two-letter state abbreviation/the county name
You may need to create a free account at genealogy.com, but once you do, you can post a message with a subject line similar to: "Marriage Record Lookup Assistance Please"
and in the body of the message ask for assistance finding the marriage record. There are many genealogists who do free look-ups because they get stuck, too, and ask for help from others if they can't get to their info, as well.
Hope this helps!

Answer 4

This is very difficult because women weren't considered important. You could check the area she lived to see if someone else had her first name. This would not work very well unless she had an unusual name. Have you tried to see if someone else in your family has a web site with information. Type in your last name and genealogy on google.
There are some census records that only list the man and the number of males and females in his family.

Answer 5

Do a lot of research at the library. Some books will help more than others. If you know her marriage date, check the marriages for 1880. Ask for assistance from the librarian. It is very interesting searching for ancestors.

Answer 6

Sometimes you can't. Sometimes you find

1) A will in which John Smith bequeaths to "My daughter Jane, who married Eltweed Pomeroy . . ."

A census entry with:

2a) John Smith, Head
Jane Smith, wife
Eltweed Pomeroy, father-in-law

2b)Jane Smith, head, widowed
Harry Pomeroy, Brother . . .

2c) John Smith, head
Jane Smith, wife
Harry Pomeroy, brother-in-law
(Harry in this case may be John's sister's brother.)

98% of the time, however, you have to go beyond the 1880 to get to maiden names. Rust Skipper gave you some good links.

Answer 7

Sometimes your local courthouse will have marriage records dating backt hat far, or even libraries. A marriage certificate will contain the womans maiden name. It is possible to find it that way.

Answer 8

You need to hunt down the marriage license and get a copy. It will list the maiden name. If you had a family bible it would have it, at least ours does.

Good luck.

Answer 9

Sometimes you can find data on a female who has changed their name by researching others she was connected too such as siblings, Nieces, Nephews, maybe you'll find children she had, and on their birth record Her married name will appear.
In Geneaology there's not always a door, sometimes you have to go through the window.

Answer 10

This is a hard one. I have done a lot of research using the Mormon Church's website (www.familysearch.org) but the records there are submitted by users so may or may not use the maiden name.