Widow

[Kiko]

Hi,

One of my ancestors married a widow (sometime between 1857-1860). To find the marriage, what surname would the widow have usually used, her maiden name or that of her previous husband? I assume it might be any, but those of you with more experience on this might know which alternative was more common.

Thanks,
Francisco

[lizdb]

Whatever she was known as - usually that of her late husband

[Kiko]

Thanks for that, which confirms it's different to where I live (Chile). Hopefully she used her late husband's name, because I have it and I don't know her maiden name.

Cheers,
Francisco

[behindthefrogs]

If Mary Jones married Fred Smith then in formal letters before the death of her husband she would be addressed as Mrs Fred Smith.  After she became a widow she would be addressed as Mrs Mary Smith.

This form of address was used until the middle of the 20th century.

David

[Kiko]

Hi David,

Good to see she kept her husband's surname in both situations, because I don't have her maiden name.

Here in Chile it's very different. We use both our father and mother's surnames. I am called Francisco Jackson MacLennan, being Jackson my father and MacLennan my mother. My children inherit the Jackson name. Had I been born in the neighbouring Brazil, it would be different, I would be called Francisco MacLennan Jackson. In both places wives keep their original names, without adding their husband's. However, in the past, for formal letters my wife (who is called Ruth Duran Rencoret) could have been addressed as Ruth Duran de Jackson.

Cheers,
Francisco

[coombs]

Normally widows kept the names of the deceased hubby's but sometimes they did revert back to their maiden name. Not often but it did happen.