I spent some time looking for information on an ancestor in the mid-1800s whose maiden name I thought was Franciska Haase. Several records, including her marriage record which listed her as “Miss FranciskaHaase,” provided that maiden name. It was not until I altered my approach and considered that Haase was the last name of her step-father that I was able to actually locate her.
Consider that the last name you think is the maiden name could actually be the last name of a step-father. It’s also possible that the marriage you think is your female ancestor’s first could actually be her second.
One response
Ths is a very helpful tip. My grandmother’s Tennessee Wilson family had misunderstood that their paternal grandmother’s maiden name was Hinson, but she had died soon after their father’s birth and wasn’t available for anybody to ask her. Of course, I wasn’t able to find their marriage record with this misinformation. Then I received an email from a lady researching this same large Wilson family, who suggested that I look in the adjoining county, where I would find their Wilson grandfather marrying a Wilson lady with the correct first name and, ten days before, another Wilson lady marrying a Hinson. I really believe that my grandmother’s family had skipped a generation in what they understood and that this was their grandmother’s mother’s second marriage to the Hinson (which I subsequently found to be the case). Unfortunately, I have not yet found any documentation listing her four children by her first Wilson husband. Complicating matters even further is that her maiden name was Wilson, too!