Finding a maiden name?

[Allsop]

I want to find our as much as I can about a lady who was a "housekeeper" in the 1930's but all I have is her married name, D.O.B, D.O.D. and address in 1939 when she was give as being a widow. Any suggestions ho how to ascertain this lady's maiden name wold be greatly appreciated.

[Bob White]

Re: Finding a maiden name?

See if you can find a newspaper obituary. You might get lucky and find her maiden name if she has brothers or parents listed. Another possibility is to find her marriage certificate. Just a couple of starter ideas. This group will have many more; I'm sure of that.

[Peter Cook]

Re: Finding a maiden name?

Since you refer to 1939 as a source, presumably you are searching in UK. I also presume you haven't found her married in 1911 or earlier censuses ?
Anyway, try the FreeBMD site <https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl> - use the 'Marriages' search - enter married name for 'Surname' and her forename for 'spouse's fore name(s)' and a date range of (birthyear + 16) to 1939.
Probably quite a few hits, then its a matter of doing a birth search for the listed females limited to the quarter of her birthdate (from the 1939 entry).
Again possibly more than one hit - then work forward through census data to eliminate.
Good luck.

[A Hougie]

Re: Finding a maiden name?

Births can legally be registered up to six weeks after the birth (and were sometimes registered late) so you may need to search more than one quarter's birth.

If you are on Ancestry, Ancestry provides "Suggested Records" with search results which can be surprisingly good (or completely wrong). So try going to the death or 1939 register entry for your individual and see if it offers the birth or marriage record. If you are not on ancestry and post here the married name, D.O.B, D.O.D. and address in 1939, I'm happy to have a look.

[steveoc]

Re: Finding a maiden name?

I have found obituaries very helpful in finding maiden names— they are not official records or primary sources,so I would seek confirmation.

[Bob White]

Re: Finding a maiden name?

Births can legally be registered up to six weeks after the birth (and were sometimes registered late) so you may need to search more than one quarter's birth...........

Six weeks may be the number where you live. However, the time period wildly varies depending upon the era and place. As examples, I have found Certificates of Live Birth that were filed as much as 20 years later in some middle of the USA states. Typically, the person in question was born at home, never registered with the local county and now needed a birth document for something like college, entering the military, etc....

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Finding a maiden name?

I have found Certificates of Live Birth that were filed as much as 20 years later in some middle of the USA states.

My grandmother, born in western Pennsylvania in 1901, didn't have a birth certificate until she was 60 and needed it for a passport...