I have a relative who was married three times, having survived all three husbands. She was married to her third husband some twenty years before she died and she survived him by several years. For reasons unknown to me when she died in 2012 she is listed in the statewide death index under her second husband’s name. She was married to him for five years and they had no children. She continued to use her third husband’s last name after his death.
Took me forever to find her.
6 Responses
Could it be that most of her children bore the name on the death index?
Woman who was my father’s second wife—have found record of marriage in Illinois, so far find no record of a divorce—she appears on later census reports with her surname prior to that marriage, and two adult children with that surname living with her or nearby. All now deceased.
My mother, his third wife, was a strictly God-fearing person. Wonder if she ever knew of this?
All residents of Wisconsin circa 1910-1920
His marriage to my mother would have been bigamous without a divorce. He md second wife in 1916,
my mother in 1918; 1920 census showed another woman living in his household with her children!
She never legally changed it after her third marriage. She assumed the name and used it commonly without changing it with Social Security. Not too uncommon actually.
When Great Grandma died in the 30’s, her kids put the 2nd husband’s name in the obit. because the 3rd (married later in life) one they didn’t like!
I recently found that a woman who was receiving a pension & then remarried could return to the pension after her new husband died. It could be that she returned to her 2nd husband’s name to collect his pension.