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Beginning Genealogy Finding Maiden Names: Clues in Censuses By J. H. Fonkert, CG While marriage records and death certificates are the usual route to maiden names, census records can provide important leads. When a family history researcher finds a multi-generational family or a household with nephews, nieces, or in-laws in a census enumeration, it’s a bit of genealogical heaven. Such households produce valuable clues about family relationships and can point toward the maiden names of married women. Mary Reeves A beginning researcher often finds a grandfather or great-grandfather in a census with relative ease – after all, the researcher already knew grandpa’s name. Right there next to him on the census page is his wife, sharing his last name. What seems like a maternal dead end need not be. A good example is Mary Reeves, a young married Irish woman living in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1920. Mary was the wife of Thomas P. Reeves, a young Irishman working as a spring-maker at the railroad shops. According to the census, both had Page 78 immigrated in 1909 and they had only one child: 6-month-old Julia. This information suggests they had married fairly recently in St. Paul. Indeed, Thomas Reeves married Mary McCarthy on 19 August 1918. Mary’s death certificate is another place to look for her maiden name. It states that Mary’s father was Morgan McCarthy; the informant did not know the name of Mary’s mother. Use death certificates with care; the informant (usually a relative, but sometimes just a friend or neighbor), may not know the names of the deceased person’s parents – or worse yet, thinks he knows but is wrong. Marriage records are an obvious place to look for maiden names, but they can be hard to find if the location of the marriage is not known. In this case, the search must be broadened to other kinds of records, including newspaper marriage announcements, obituaries, wills and probate records, and citizenship records. Clues from in-laws. Let’s take a closer look at the Reeves family in the 1920 Census. Even before looking at Mary’s marriage or death certificates, the Census offered a strong clue to her maiden name. Living with Thomas and Mary was Patrick McCarthy, who was identified as Thomas Reeves’ brother-in-law, making him a candidate for Mary’s brother (Patrick could have been the husband of a sister of Thomas). Census-takers commonly found extended families living together in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and the enumerations of them often give hints to the birth families of married women. Enumerations of families with three generations living together are especially fortuitous for genealogists. If your ancestors lived between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in 1925, it’s not really heaven, but Iowa. The 1925 Iowa census can be a genealogist’s “Field of Dreams” because it asked not only for the birthplace of each household member, but also the name and birthplace of the parents of each member of the household. The Hughes Family The Patrick Hughes household of Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, is a good example of the gold to be found in the 1925 Iowa Census. Household Member Age and Birthplace Relation to Head Father Mother Patrick Hughes 52 Born Iowa Head Patrick Hughes Born Ireland Bridget Hughes 44 Born Iowa Wife Niel Boyle Born Ireland Marjory Boyle Born Iowa Mother-in-law David Campbell Born Ireland Jenevieve Boyle Born Iowa Sister-in-law Niel Boyle Born Ireland From this one census, we learn Bridget Hughes’ maiden name (Boyle), her mother’s maiden name (Campbell), and as an added bonus, Patrick’s mother’s maiden name (Osborne). Ellen Osborne Born Ireland Mary Campbell Born Ireland Bridget Gallagher Born Ireland Mary Campbell Born Ireland The 1925 Iowa Census information for the Hughes family is genealogically rich, but can other federal and state censuses be as profitable? The Septs - Volume 32, Number 2 • An t-Alòredn (April) 2011
_________________________________________________________________ Beginning Genealogy Julia Kemp Fawkner Sometimes we wonder where an ancestor’s daughter went. James C. Fawkner of Coles County, Illinois, had a daughter Julia Kemp Fawkner, who was born about 1867 in Missouri. She was single and living at home in Coles County in 1880, but the family had vanished from Coles County by 1900. Julia had a brother named Cyrus, born about 1870 in Missouri. A search of the Ancestry. com 1900 census index led to a 31-year-old, Missouri-born Cyrus Falkner living in Duluth, Minnesota. The census-taker identified him as the brother-in-law of the head of the household: George Watson. George’s wife was Julia K., born in Missouri in 1867. Case solved: Julia Kemp Fawkner married George Watson and moved to Minnesota. Reversing direction. In researching the ancestry of Mrs. Julia Watson, we can work the problem back in time. Julia died sometime after February 1952, possibly in Milwaukee, but we don’t have an obituary or death certificate. The presence of brother-in-law Cyrus Falkner in Julia’s home in 1900 implies that Julia was a Falkner. Now we can use census indexes to try to locate either George and/ or Julia in earlier censuses in hopes of finding a likely marriage location. The 1900 Census helps because it states that George and Julia had been married 10 years. The oldest of three children was born in Colorado – but that is probably a red herring; the marriage more likely occurred in or near Douglas County, Illinois, where both George and Julia lived as teenagers. No death certificate? No marriage certificate? No problem: follow the children. The Watsons had a son, George Cecil Watson, whose 1964 death certificate states that his mother’s maiden name was Julia K. Faulkner. George was buried in Waukesha County, Irish Genealogical Society International Moultrie County, Illinois 1850 U.S. Census Mumphred Fortiner, 40, b. Va. Elizabeth, 42, b. Ky John C., 14, b. Ind. Henry, 12, b. Ind. James, 10, b. Ind. Wisconsin, again pointing to the Milwaukee area as a possible place to find Julia’s death information. Elizabeth Faulkner Before 1880, U.S. censuses did not identify family relationships. The 1870 Putnam County, Indiana, census enumeration finds Thomas, 15, born in Indiana, along with his sisters Margaret and Clarinda, all living in the household of James Darraugh, 51, and his wife Evaline, 48. The Faulconer children are clearly not from an earlier marriage of Evaline because Margaret and Thomas are older than two of the Darraugh children. Although we can not assume they were related to the Darraughs,the Faulconer children may be nephews and nieces of either James or Evaline, or possibly even grandchildren. Putnam County, Indiana 1860 U.S. Census Jas. Darraugh, 51, b. Kentucky Evaline Darraugh, 48, b. Kentucky Jeptha Darraugh, 26, b. Kentucky Whitfield Darraugh, 20, b. Kentucky Nancy Darraugh, 16, b. Kentucky Lewis Darraugh, 14, b. Kentucky Peggy Darraugh, 88, b. Kentucky Margrett, 7, b. Ind. Margret J. Faulkner, 17, b. Indiana Thos F., 5, b. Ind. Thomas J. Faulkner, 15, b. Indiana Clarinda, 2, b. Ind. Clarinda A. Faulkner, 12, b. Indiana Note: 1860 enumerator used ditto marks (“) to indicate surnames of wives and children. Page 79
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