A colleague with a genealogy problem was confused as the husband’s wife was named Antonia Petrosky in some records and Victoria Petrosky in others. She was convinced the wife’s name was actually Antonia Victoria Petrosky. Analyzing the records a little more closely revealed that his wife was always Antonia in records before 1880 and was always Victoria in records after 1880, including births of children. Children born before 1880 indicated their mother was Antonia and those born after 1880 always indicated their mother was Victoria.
I suggested to her that she consider the man was married to Antonia until 1880 and to Victoria after 1880 and that they were possibly sisters or cousins.
4 Responses
I agree that it could be two people who are either sisters or cousins. I have actually come across this in my research.
My sister in law is Suzi to all her knew her before college, Betty to all after. Her legal name is Elizabeth.
My sister is legally Cheryl. She started using Cher as an adult. Her kids BC’s say Cher. I am the only person who still calls her Cheryl.
I have a great grandmother named Emma Koester Kieffer. Her father called her Lil and Lil is how he named her in his Civil War Pension papers. Once grown and a grandmother herself my mother heard her tell a woman wanting to name a baby after her that her name was Lillian.
Another situation I have is my mother in laws mother, Edith. I found she was Ida on her birth record. My MIL insisted that could not be correct.
My Uncle Woodrow’s wife was always Aunt Mary. Never heard anyone call her anything else. She died in 1981, and I had entered her name as Mary. I didn’t know her maiden name. I called an Aunt and that’s when I learned Aunt Mary’s name wasn’t Mary. My Aunt wasn’t even sure what Mary’s real name was! Uncle Woodrow and Aunt Mary were both in the Navy and met about 1940. They were in a bar, and she never thought she’d see this sailor again, so she told him her name was Mary. They started dating and she never told him her real name, until he proposed. She confessed that Mary wasn’t her real name, it was Emma. He replied “You’ll always be Mary to me”. And that’s why Emma Helen was called Mary the rest of her adult life.