Has anyone else experienced the bride giving her mother's maiden name on the marriage certificate, rather than her own? I have two cases, on completely different branches of my tree.
My great grandmother was shown as Mary Ann Trim, a widow aged 22 on her marriage certificate in 1881. Her father was shown as William Osborne Ivey, so I knew Mary Ann's maiden name. It wasn't until I found her father William's marriage certificate, that his wife's maiden name was revealed, Amelia Trim! Now did Mary Ann marry a Trim? I've found no marriage recorded, or death of Mr Trim.
On another branch Susannah Andrews married my great great grandfather James Read in 1853. Her older sister Mary Ann Masters witnessed the ceremony, and in the section to record the father's name it showed 'Mother's name Charlotte Andrews'. Why wasn't her father Thomas Masters shown? He was still alive at the time at the time of the marriage, and both he and Charlotte lived together for nearly 60 years, with their 10 children. Perhaps Thomas wasn't her father, although he and Charlotte had been married 4 years by the time Susannah was born?
I wonder if both women misunderstood what the meaning of maiden name meant? Or did the clerk misunderstood what he was being told? Either way, I wonder if anyone else has experienced this anomaly?
