Why would a wife use her maiden name AND her married name?

[jhan]

Good evening all,

I am currently knee deep in a puzzle involving my great-grandmother. On my Granny's birth certificate, my Granny is named Jessie M S Duncan or Gallagher.  In the parents box there are two empty lines then it names her mother Betsy B S Duncan or Gallagher, wife of John Gallagher etc etc. This confused me initially and while investigating this i have noticed my great-grandmother used the surname 'Duncan or Gallagher' through the documents i found and even her death record has this.

Can anyone give me any clue as to why she would use both surnames together? And also, i have a suspicion my Granny may have been illegitimate, it does not say this but the gap before her mothers name makes me wonder. Can anyone advise?

Thanks in advance!

Jenni

[healyjfch]

She used her maiden name on day to day basis, perhaps her husbands name was very plentiful where they resided.
Another possibility is that she ran a business such as a shop before she married and kept the maiden name over the door.

Could she have married twice ? Her marriage cert should give the answer.
What you think is maiden name might belong to first husband.

[djct59]

From the surnames I suspect she was domiciled in Scotland, where you never legally lose your maiden name, and your married surname is always preceded by your maiden name and the word "or".

In Scots law, in respect of any legal document you will ever require, every married woman retains every surname by which she has been known, even after divorce/death of previous husband.

[carol8353]

My sis in law was a head teacher,so used her maiden name for work purposes but her married name day to day.

[jhan]

I've seen the marriage register and she is a 17 year old spinster. Her father also carries her maiden name. I can understand her using both her maiden and married names. It's just the first time I've come across it so I find it unusual. Especially when her daughter seems to have the same surname of 'Duncan or Gallagher'. I need to find her other children's birth documents and see what they say I think.

Thanks.

[anne_p]

Jhan,
Can you post the bit relating to parentage of Jessie Duncan.

I am also assuming that this is Scotland but, there was a format to these.

I am guessing as I can't see it but, it sounds like Jessie was her mother's own child and her mother had since married John Gallagher.

It would not usually be written exactly as you have worded it but I have one birth certificate that looks exactly like you describe
My relative was 6months pregnant with twins when she married her husband.
The birth cert makes it quite clear that her husband was not the father of her children.

A child is entitled to have the same name as his/her mother, hence Duncan or Gallagher

[Rosinish]

I am also assuming that this is Scotland but, there was a format to these.

I am guessing as I can't see it but, it sounds like Jessie was her mother's own child and her mother had since married John Gallagher.

A child is entitled to have the same name as his/her mother, hence Duncan or Gallagher

I would agree with Anne on the above.

I am posting an example of a 'married' woman having a child with someone other than her husband (whilst married) although in this case the father is named on the cert. (he would have had to have been there in person at the registration) although he is not the husband of the mother 

Annie

[jhan]

Yes, they are in Fife, Scotland.

It won't let me attach a picture on my phone so will transcribe it then post a picture later.

Birth (1931)

"Jessie McQueen Sorley Duncan
or Gallagher"

Parentage

"____________________
____________________
Betsy Black Sorley Duncan
or Gallagher (millworker)
Wife of John Gallagher,
(Coal miner) to whom she was
married 12th November 1921
at Dunfermline"


It's the gap above the mothers name that gets me. I'm thinking along the same lines as you, Annie, that she had a child with someone other than her husband (I've confirmed the marriage).

Thanks for your advice so far!

Jenni

[scotmum]

In Scotland, the word 'illegitimate' ceased being used on birth certificates issued from 1/1/1919. For fuller details see:

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/guides/registering-illegitimate-births