Wife's name on Records after marriage

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bobcusack
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 1:25 am
Location: Wangaratta, Victoria. Australia

Wife's name on Records after marriage

Post by bobcusack » Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:09 am

While looking at the Milltown Malbray Parish census for 1839, I noted that all wives are recorded by their maiden/birth names and not by their married names. Does this same pattern exist in all Catholic Church records of recording all witness and sponsor females by their maiden names?
If so, then I need to revisit all my Irish records as I have previously discounted as being mine, those documents bearing a maiden name when I knew that the female was already married.
Does this pattern also exist for other official documents or only Church records?

Thank you,
Regards,
Bob Cusack

Sduddy
Posts: 1826
Joined: Sun Sep 26, 2010 10:07 am

Re: Wife's name on Records after marriage

Post by Sduddy » Tue Jan 12, 2016 11:22 am

Hi Bob

I can't guarantee that all wives were recorded by their maiden names in church records, but I have found that it certainly was very common, and when both husband and wife were sponsors there is usually no indication that they were husband and wife. But the early Rath-Kilnaboy records are in Latin and here the priest writes "uxor ejus" ("his wife") - for instance, in 28th February 1820, he writes the sponsors names as "Silvester Considine et Margaret Hogan, uxor ejus".

When you are looking at sponsors, bear in mind that they can be as young as ten years of age. Very often the sponsors are older siblings of the child being baptised, and very often they bear the same names as their parents, which can be confusing.

Sheila

bobcusack
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 1:25 am
Location: Wangaratta, Victoria. Australia

Re: Wife's name on Records after marriage

Post by bobcusack » Wed Jan 13, 2016 6:31 am

Sduddy wrote:Hi Bob

I can't guarantee that all wives were recorded by their maiden names in church records, but I have found that it certainly was very common, and when both husband and wife were sponsors there is usually no indication that they were husband and wife. But the early Rath-Kilnaboy records are in Latin and here the priest writes "uxor ejus" ("his wife") - for instance, in 28th February 1820, he writes the sponsors names as "Silvester Considine et Margaret Hogan, uxor ejus".

When you are looking at sponsors, bear in mind that they can be as young as ten years of age. Very often the sponsors are older siblings of the child being baptised, and very often they bear the same names as their parents, which can be confusing.

Sheila
Thank you Sheila for your reply. I suspected that might be the case which is certainly very different to over here in Australia. In the 1800's the wife took her spouses name and was known thereafter by it. Even the Church records name her by her married name. Once married, the only time mention is made of a maiden name is on her children's birth registrations and her own death certificate when the form requested her parents names, if known.

Ah well, back to all my Irish Parish records and review them in a different light. Thank you once again,
Bob

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