Do you know why a marine would use an alias?

[rosanne]

I have a gg greandfather who used an alias in the royal marines. His wedding certifiacte stated his name was John Brown alisa Maxwell and his father was Johnston Maxwell. My maided name is Maxwell. Why would he use an alias. (Also it appears he was from Ireland)
Rosanne

[suey]

Hi Rosanne - what year was this?
Do you have evidence of him using the name John Brown while he was in the Marines?
Perhaps he was underage and needed his fathers permission to sign up, maybe his father refused and he lied about his name and possibly age!
Perhaps he had fallen out with his family and wanted to disassociate himself with the family name..
The whys and wherefores are endless.
Suey

[Little Nell]

As a point of general interest, alias is the Latin for 'otherwise.'  It was used when a person was known by more than one name.  There could be several reasons for this - he/she was born out of wedlock; he/she was 'adopted' by another family (this is before 1926 when formal adoption began to be recorded); he/she took another name in order to inherit; his/her mother may have remarried and so the child/ren were known by their real father's name and their mother's new name.  It is important to remember that the term had NO disreputable connotation.  It does not mean that the person was trying to hide anything. 

According to the Dictionary of Genealogy, when the two names persisted for several generations, it became the equivalent of our hyphen in double-barelled name.  In Scotland married ladies were always described in legal documents by both their married names and their maiden names.

So in this instance it may be worth looking for both names in his history somewhere.  Trouble is, how far will you have to look? 

Nell

[Cell]

Hi,
on the same lines as Nell as mentioned, quote-  "  In Scotland married ladies were always described in legal documents by both their married names and their maiden names".

This can also happen in Ireland, women keeping their maiden names (where my mum and her family come from):
 My mother's Great grandmother kept her maiden name ( 1800's), she was on her second marriage, first husband died ( mcfall)  then married my mum's G grandfather (  Purdy) - she  always went by her  maiden name apparently and never by any of her above married names.

 Scottish names, and all my Irish ( both my grandfather and my gran's side) lines did originate back in Scotland at some early stage, ( don't know when. maybe  1600's, 1500's, 1400's etc  they came in from Scotland - but my mum's side go back quite a few generations in Ireland)

The children were all born with her married names of course, in both marriages, but she was known by her  maiden name. Tradition by some of  the ladies perhaps in some families in Ireland and Scotland to go by their maiden names  ( my mum also has her mother's maiden name as a middle name to keep her mum's line in the family - so I do think this is a tradition in some families).
I think  Nell may have hit on something here. I just know that my mum's great grandmother was known by her maiden name and not by  her husband's name. she preferred to keep it/be known by it - and she was married to her husband. I suppose it  had something to do with "clans"

Many people today think that it is only today's modern liberated women who do this, known by their maiden names . "Pah teach your granny to suck eggs" Some of these  old lady ancestors maybe be saying in their graves to today's women, who think they have invented something new  lol 

Another idea , your John may have been born Maxwell, his dad  Maxwell died, and  his mum remarried  to a Brown when he was a little boy/baby and he sort of adopted the name Brown - or vice versa he was born to a dad  Brown who died , but mum married a maxwell
This could also  be another real possibility for you.

For  example , this is in Wales, but it's neither here nor there as it happens all over the country;  I have a  half sibling in my husbands line, his great great grandmothers  half sister. She was born Morgans and her birth was  registered as  Morgans. Father Morgans died ,  her mum remarried to  a  Butler when the child was around a few years old. The child  changed her name to Butler. She ( the child) married using that name too, and even named her father as Butler on her marriage cert, although he was not her  real father, but step father.
 He was probably like a real father to her,it was him who brought her up over the years.  So she had the alias maiden name  of Butler, when her real maiden name was Morgans.


I have a few ancestors who joined up in the army underage in the 2nd world war that I know about  - many  just lied about their ages to get in. It  probably happened  just the same amount  in the 1st world war too.
 2nd world war -  One, who is still alive, is my father-in-laws oldest brother. His father ( who was  out in France with the army at the time ), and  his mother did not know he was going until he went that is. I think he was around only 16 at the time. His father went up the wall apparently when he found out.

 Just a few ideas for you, whether it is of any help to you I don't know, but there may not be anything your ancestor is trying to cover up at all. Or maybe he could be covering something up don't know. If you can check out the mother and see if she married  twice, if you have her name.

Good luck

[rosanne]

Thanks for all you suggestions. My John Maxwell, I think, was John Brown in the 1881 census in Eastney Barracks as a Gunner in the Royal Marines. This John Brown is the right age and it says he ws from Ireland. He also married after the census in 1881 to Mary Eliza Kidson, although on her marriage certificate she had her name as Mary Anne Kidson. His name was written as John Brown alias Maxwell and his father was Johnston Maxwell a farmer. So was his father an Irish farmer? They had a daughter born in 1882 whose parents were John Brown otherwise Maxwell and Mary Anne Kidson otherwise Maxwell. Their daughter had a son Noel Maxwell who is my paternal grandfather. I know I have the right couple on the marriage certificate but is the John Brown of the census the right man?
I decides to try to make sense of some Irish records at this point. In the griffith valuation their is only one Johnston Maxwell from roscommon in Ireland. Luckily for me my man was a farmer. This Johnston leased land from a John Ganly.  On the LDS sight I found a parish marriage record for a Johnston Maxwell and a Frances Ganly in the right area of Ireland. Does this mean that my John Maxwell's mother was Francis Ganly? I have not managed to find a record of his birth or if Johnston and Francis had children. So far I have found no Browns.
If you have any more tips for me please I am so stuck at the moment.
Rosanne