Because women’s identities have often been intertwined with men’s, it can be difficult to find their maiden names, or even their first names. A deeper dive can uncover those personal details.
When I’m searching for birth parents, I often have to reach back in time to unravel complicated mysteries. Part of that unraveling typically includes identifying maiden names, married names, and even first names for women. I’ve worked cases that have challenged my skills as a private investigator, cases with multiple marriages and a slew of different surnames over the course of a lifetime.
Maiden names can be tricky. So can married names, especially when a woman marries more than one time. But it gets even more challenging the further back in time your research takes you. Some women aren’t even referred to in historical records by their first names, let alone their surnames.
Especially prior to the 20th century, females were normally tied to their father’s name or perhaps a brother if her father was deceased. When she married, she was then tied to her husband’s name. Many records of females identified them as “Mrs. John Smith” or “eldest daughter of Charles Davis.” Here’s a partial excerpt from a November 25, 1920 marriage announcement in The Albany Capital in Gentry County, Missouri:
Last Sunday evening at 6 o’clock, Dale Wayman and Miss Velma Kingsborough were united in marriage at the home of Rev. J.S. Wayman. They were accompanied by the bride’s grandmother, Mrs. John Kingsborough, and her aunt, Miss Eulah Kingsborough. Also by Mr. and Mrs. Arch Logsdon and the groom’s brother, Mesheck Wayman and wife.
In this one paragraph alone, two women are referred to by their husbands’ names and one is simply referred to as “wife.” So how can we uncover the first names and the maiden names of Mrs. John Kingsborough, Mrs. Arch Logsdon, and the wife of Mesheck Wayman? We start digging. And we dig some more until we find the answers. Because that’s what private investigators do.
For these women, since I didn’t have first, middle, or maiden names to identify them, I started with their husbands and other family members who were named. Piecing together information from additional records at ancestry.com and newspapers.com, I identified Mrs. John Kingsborough as Mary J. Evans Kingsborough, Mrs. Arch Logsdon as Vernie M. Caster Logsdon, and the wife of Mesheck Wayman as Barbara Heltzel Wayman.
These three women were eventually given their own names via census records, marriage announcements, and obituaries. But there are lots of other publicly available (i.e., free) records that can also be helpful in identifying maiden names, married names, and even completely nameless women.
Birth records normally include the maiden name of the record-bearer’s mother. So if you’re trying to identify a maiden name for a female, identify her children, then search for their birth records.
If you’re trying to identify a maiden name for a female, identify her children, then search for their birth records.
For anyone who has researched family records over several generations, you’ve probably noticed a few family naming patterns. A woman’s maiden name can sometimes be the middle name of one of her children. This is even more often the case the further back in time you’re looking. But don’t discount it for current records either. In fact, my best friend from high school has her mother’s maiden name as her middle name.
Most marriage records list the maiden name of the bride as well as her parents’ names. Many churches keep marriage records — useful if you can guess where a couple most likely got married. Search for divorce records, too.
Death records list parents’ names. So if your female subject has died, find her death record and identify her probable maiden name through the names of her parents.
Obituaries can be a gold mine of information. Obituaries traditionally list parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and children. Along with surname clues, you might even find city information listed. All of this can be hugely helpful. Pay special attention to a female’s brothers’ surnames, as this will be her maiden name. A female’s burial plot might be near the graves of other family members, so this could also help in identifying her maiden name.
As a general rule, in identifying multiple name changes for females, you can try working backward in her life, beginning with her death or the last known record you’ve uncovered.
If you have only a first name to work with, try searching for her with the details you do have. Do you have her date of birth, the town where she grew up, or the city where she raised her own family? Do you have the names of any of her relatives? You might just stumble upon her last name.
Finally — and I can’t stress this enough — if you’re having a difficult time finding out anything about the female you’re trying to identify, it will be worth your while to research the people who are associated with her. Search for mentions of her family members in census records, city directories, wills, probate records, birth records, marriage licenses, newspaper articles, and on and on. If you can’t quite find your girl, search for those closest to her and you’ll likely find her there too, somewhere amongst the clutter.
There are a LOT of records out there, both online and in person. If you run into a brick wall with a female’s name, don’t assume all is lost. It’s not. The answer is there, waiting for you to find it. You just have to know where to look.
About the author:
Rachele’ Davis became a licensed private investigator in Missouri and Kansas in 2016, then launched her one-woman agency, New Hope Investigations. She specializes in locating and researching people through social media and open source investigations and has a personal interest in adoption searches. Her course on finding biological parents is available at PI Education.