Genealogy: Finding forebears' unmarried names

The strange practice of hyphenating surnames after tying the knot is a recent phenomenon and one that baffles me. I suppose it carries a certain cache if the names are, say, Rockefeller and Carnegie. Otherwise, these elongated names serve little purpose beside annoying others who must remember them.

Feminists argue that a woman should have the right to retain her name after marriage. That's fine. But in this patriarchal country, that means she'll carry either her father's surname or her husband's. So what's the point? You could merge both surnames to form a new one, but that won't resolve the equity issue.

To invent a truly female surname would require uniting the first names of both mothers. Patricia and Elsa, for example, could become the surname Patelsa.

These convoluted surnames will be a puzzle for future researchers to solve. Today's genealogists confront a different problem: how to ferret out an ancestor's unmarried name. Still struggling to uncover an ancestor's elusive unmarried name? Try these tips:

Marriage license applications. Most counties began keeping these records by 1885. Some date back to the early 1800s or before. Applications may contain the names of the bride and groom, their occupations and whether either had been previously married. Names of parents are almost always included.

Be sure to note the marital history. If the bride was married before, she may be using her first marital surname instead of her birth name. Example: John Shelley married Ellen Geoghagan in 1879, according to the application. The widow of Patrick Geoghagan, she was born Ellen Brogan.

Death books. Many county courthouses keep death books in their archives containing records of people who died before the state took over the task of maintaining vital statistics, generally around 1905. These large books resemble ledgers. Entries span across two pages and often give the parents' names.

Death certificates. Depending upon the date, death certificates may be a county or a state record. Sometimes municipalities keep separate death records, as do county health departments.

Funeral home records. An excellent source of free information, these records generally give more data than death certificates and are just as accurate.

Cemeteries. Find an epitaph reading "Mary Tyler, nee Humbert" and you'll have the unmarried name. A cluster of nearby tombstones bearing the same surname may be the woman's family.

Local history books. These books, often little more than a vanity press publication, are not necessarily accurate. People paid to get mentioned in the book. The author conducted very little actual research. Content was based entirely on the memory (and vanity) of the subject. The books are useful, though, especially if you expand your research to collateral relatives. My 4th-great-grandmother's unmarried name -- Schneider -- popped up in a biography about her grandson, Smith Miller. The blurb identified Smith's parents as Fred and Margaret Murray Miller and added that Margaret was the daughter of Samuel Murray and Eva Schneider. Further research confirmed Eva's unmarried name.

Civil War pension records. If a veteran got a pension, you'll find his marriage records in the file.

Wills and probate records. If you suspect your ancestor's unmarried name was Gallentine, troll through wills and probate records for Gallentines in that county, paying special attention to probate records for unmarried collateral relatives. You may get lucky.

Obituaries. Parents' names and/or names of her brothers may be included. A word of caution. Sometimes no distinction was made between biological brothers and step-brothers. Example: Bertha Butt's obituary may list Tom and Jerry Leapline as surviving brothers. The two could have been the offspring of a previous marriage by either parent.

Social Security card applications. These records include the mother's maiden name and, if applicable, the applicant's maiden name.

Information found on death certificates, funeral home records, Social Security card applications and obituaries are only as reliable as the memory of the informant.

-- Donna Murray Allen welcomes questions about genealogy and will respond to those of general interest in future columns. She can't take phone calls, but you can write to her c/o Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail her at rootscolumn@aol.com. You can read her column online at www.sptimes.com. Type Donna Murray Allen in the search box.

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