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Ancestry
Daily News Pick a Spouse, Any
Spouse Are your ancestors'
marriages causing you problems? Is your lack of knowledge of your ancestor's
marriages creating a brick wall? When family members have only one
relationship that produces children and that relationship is documented by a
marriage, the work is easy. Of course that is not always the case. This week
we look at some general suggestions for tracking your ancestors through their
multiple marriages. Who Got Re-Hitched? The remarriage of the
father does not present quite the same problem. The main difficulty may be in
determining which wife is the mother of which children. Clues to Remarriage Think about your
ancestor's life. Determine as best you can the age of all of your ancestor's
children at the time the spouse died. Would the ancestor have had small
children in the house after the death of the spouse? How old was the
surviving spouse? Was the surviving spouse in a financial situation that
would allow him or her to remain single, or would marriage have been an
economic necessity? Are there grown children or other family members with
whom the surviving parent could reside? The answers do not guarantee a
subsequent marriage by the surviving parent, but may warrant a search of
marriage records. Age, economic status, and ages of surviving children all
play a role in whether or not a surviving spouse decides to remarry. Creating
a chronology with the known information on your ancestor and their children
is also an excellent idea. Another clue to
additional marriages are multiple maiden names for
an ancestor. Multiple maiden names can arise for several reasons, most
generally: --- Multiple marriages
for the ancestor Further research is
warranted when last names are inconsistent. Finally, are the names
really different? Last names that appear to be different may actually be
variants of the same name. One of my ancestors has a maiden name that appears
as Bieger, Beger, Berger,
Bigger, Biger, Picker, Pickar,
Pickert, and Bickert.
These are spelling and phonetic variations. The same is true for first names.
Sarah and Sally may very well be the same person. Make certain that what you
think are two separate people are not the same
person listed once with their “real” name and once with their nickname. Sources That May
Help Guardianships. Guardianship records are
usually created when a man with real or significant personal property dies
with minor children. A guardian is appointed to oversee the property until
the minor heirs reach the age of majority. Guardianship records will indicate
which parents are deceased and may or may not mention the mother, even if she
survives. If the family had no property, there likely will be no guardianship
records for any minor children. In some areas there may be records of
apprenticeship, which may mention that a child has a deceased father. Probate Records. Records of the settlement of an
estate may mention the subsequent surname of a surviving widow. Wills may not
include all children, either because some had already received their share or
because they had a falling out with the writer of the will. Any court notices
sent to heirs should list all children, even if all children were not listed
in the will. If a list of heirs fails to include individuals you believe to
be children of the will's writer, further research may have to be done. Some
individuals you thought were children may not be children after all. Marriage Records. Does the marriage record of
your ancestor indicate the bride was a “Mrs.?” This is an obvious clue. It
may be worth your while to look for both the husband and wife in later
marriage records even if you don't think they were remarried. Cemetery Records and
Tombstones.
These records may provide death dates not located in other records which may
suggest an ancestor was a widow or widower for an extended period of time
(and more likely to remarry). Adjacent burials may indicate an ancestor was
married more than once. Look at the names on stones of those buried near your
ancestor. Death Records. An obvious source of death date
information, look also for the name of the surviving spouse. Is it the same
as the name you have? Land Records. If your ancestral family owned
land, locate all records where the land is acquired and all records where the
land is transferred from family ownership. Records of transfer from family
ownership are more likely to provide spousal clues. When the husband sells
property, is it the same wife listed as giving up her rights of dower? Court Records. Was your ancestor divorced?
Divorce in the nineteenth century was not as common as it is today, but it
was not unheard of either. Court records involving real property or
inheritance are more likely to reveal spousal information than are other
cases. Virtually any record
could reveal that your ancestor was married more than once. The records we've
discussed here are some of the ones that are more likely to provide this
information. Remember to leave no stone unturned! General Advice Summary A female with multiple
maiden names may have been married more than once, or her mother may have
been married more than once or had more than one relationship (not
necessarily marriages), which produced children. Variant
last names for male ancestors usually indicates that his father had
multiple relationships, which may or may not have actually been marriages. Of course, these are
general tendencies, not hard and fast guarantees. There are no “always” rules
in genealogy! Next week we look at
some situations where multiple marriages built some genealogical brick walls.
Michael John Neill is
the Course I Coordinator at the Genealogical Institute of Mid America (GIMA)
held annually in Copyright 2004,
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