Posts in July 11, 2023

I’ve encountered instances in my research where children have provided maiden names of their mothers that were inconsistent with information actually provided by the mother and that were completely wrong based on more contemporary and reliable records on the mother. Sometimes children do not know their mother’s maiden name. One should always try and locate contemporary information regarding the maiden name of a woman if at all possible and avoid relying solely on information provided by children (or grandchildren) decades after the person has died. That is not always possible in some locations and time periods. I’ve also encountered instances where the children gave a last name for the mother that I initially thought was “wrong,” only later it turned out to be right. Sometimes they do know […]