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  • Woman using partners surname

    Was it the practice, if an unmarried couple had a child, for the woman to call herself 'Mrs' and use the man's surname? I come across marriages where the woman has the same surname and they already have a child.

  • #2
    If they could get away with it!

    I have several families who did this this - one 'wife' was 8 months pregnant with her 3rd child before she waddled up the aisle, but had been calling herself by her husband's name for several years.

    (and welcome to FTF!)

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    • #3
      My parents were unable to marry as my father's 1st wife refused him a divorce (even though she was the one in the wrong!) so my mother called herself Mrs. xxxxxx. Saved a lot of embarrising questions in those days.


      My birth certificate gives my mother's name using my father's surname.
      Last edited by WendyPusey; 13-03-11, 12:02.
      Wendy



      PLEASE SCAN AT 300-600 DPI FOR RESTORATION PURPOSES. THANK YOU!

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      • #4
        My parents lived together and had five children and one on the way before they tied the knot due to father having a wife already but mother called herself Mrs and all the children bore the fathers name. He had a grown up family of five children already to his wife.

        Edna

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        • #5
          Welcome to FTF

          Are you meaning that you have the same surname on the marriage certificate?
          It would have been quite normal for the woman to be known by her partners surname but I doubt that would be the name entered on the marriage cert unless it was her birth or previous married name.
          Vivienne passed away July 2013

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          • #6
            Does the woman's surname match the one given for her father on the certificate?
            ~ with love from Little Nell~
            Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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            • #7
              My husband's birth certificate gives his father as F A Gr.... and his mother as F O Gr...., lately E...., formerly Ga.... They were never married although she used her partner's surname and husband was given his father's surname. His mother later married Mr. P.... and he adopted my husband.

              Jane

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              • #8
                Not forgetting that [a] you can call yourself what you like, so long as a name change is not for fraudulent purposes, and [b] "Mrs", "Miss" and "Ms" are all abbreviations of the same word - "Mistress".

                Christine
                Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

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                • #9
                  A "known as" name shows up on a cet as "otherwise" - that's if everyone told the scrupulous truth to the Vicar/Registrar.

                  So Joe Bloggs married Mary Bloggs otherwise Smith, formerly Jones, where Joe and Mary had been living together before marriage - Mary either already married to Mr Smith, or using the surname Smith for other reasons when she met Mr Bloggs.

                  OC

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                  • #10
                    One of my great aunts used my great uncle's name for over 40 years (and bore him 2 children) before they married. His first wife wouldn't divorce him and he had to wait until after her death in the early 1960s to marry again.
                    My avatar is my Great Grandmother Emma Gumbert

                    Sue at Langley Vale

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                    • #11
                      I have cousins who married and, quite legitimately, had the same surnames.

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                      • #12
                        I too, have a few cousins with same surname who married (small towns !!). I also have Miss Dawson who married Mr Platt, was widowed, and married Mr Dawson, no relation, from a different country.

                        Di
                        Diane
                        Sydney Australia
                        Avatar: Reuben Edward Page and Lilly Mary Anne Dawson

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                        • #13
                          You don't mention what time period this may have occured.

                          A genealogist has assured me that divorce in the 1800s (and prob. other time periods, too) was expensive and very difficult to obtain. When a first marriage proved to be unlivable, the couple would split, and one frequently found another partner, and lived with the new partner as husband and wife.

                          I have one (probable?) ancestor who lived with his "wife" in the 1841 census and on, had children with her (first born 1833, last 1853. They married 1856! He was a "widower", she a "spinster" and living at the same address!

                          Additionally, I think she had a sister doing the same thing!
                          sarah

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                          • #14
                            my great grandfather's sister married her first cousin in london in the 1930's. they had the same surname, and made a conscious decision not to have children. other times may simply be when the wife has previously been married to the husband's brother. it was quite common for a man's wife to die, and he later married her sister to help him raise the children. i also have this in my family.

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                            • #15
                              I also have a couple on the 1841 with several chidren but have never traced a marriage. It should be remembered that finances played a large part - they couldn't afford marriage in some cases either because of the costs involed in fees or because he could not afford to lose a day's pay !

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                              • #16
                                BC

                                Sorry, but I think the cost involved is a feeble excuse for not marrying, lol.

                                Many churches waived the marriage fee (which was only about sixpence anyway) on highdays and holidays like Xmas Day or Easter.

                                Kyle - for many centuries it was illegal to marry a deceased spouse's brother or sister and the law wasn't revoked until 18...something, and 1926. That's not to say that people didn't ignore the law of course, they did and I have lots of examples in it in my family.

                                OC

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                                • #17
                                  We have a couple on the 1871 census with the same surname but I can't find any evidence of them being married!

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