Investigating female ancestry can present its own unique set of challenges. Women traditionally took their husbands last names when marrying. When photographed, women typically appeared under either their married name or no name at all. We have provided some helpful hints below that should assist in discovering your female ancestor’s maiden names.
1. Search Indirect Records
To find information about this woman indirectly, search records of her relatives: her husband, father, siblings and children. Additionally, you might discover references to her being named an heir, witness or travelling companion; letters may even mention her.
2. Explore Marriage Records
Marriage records will likely contain a woman’s maiden name. If censuses reveal most of her children were born in one county, start your search there for marriage records. Search county archives for certificates and license applications as well as church and congregational bonds or banns as well as historical newspapers for announcements of this event.
3. Follow Her Children
Seek records on each of a woman’s children, even those not related by blood, such as birth/baptism/marriage/death records. One or more may list a maiden name if none exist otherwise; also take note of any witnesses listed as they could be her relatives.
4. Conduct cemetery research
When visiting tombstones, make a point of checking nearby plots as they often contain families buried nearby. Checking caretaker burial records could yield additional details about those individuals buried nearby and see if anyone was interred without headstone.
5. Find Evidence to Confirm or Disprove Potential Names
Once you have an inkling of a surname, research local families with that surname to see if any have children with your female ancestor’s first name. Record all evidence supporting or contradicting your conclusion about her maiden name; more likely than not it’s going to come through a series of clues rather than one single record that says, “I, Mary Smith Pearson… ”
A Genealogists’s Guide to Finding Your Female Ancestors by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack can be used as an excellent reference. It contains case studies for tracking down female ancestors’ maiden names.
