Names! Especially women’s names. Do you have any challenges there and what do you do with them?

Here is one for you. John B Huffman married Amanda Hoffman. The question may be obvious. Is there a mistake with one of the surnames? Are they both the same? Are they that close in spelling? I keep getting hints from a database that there could be an error. So, is there? If there is, what is the correct information?

Maiden names are sometimes a challenge to find as we all know. What is the identity of Mrs. John Smith? I remember when I was young and watching Wimbledon on TV and seeing the scoreboard that said Mrs. Larry King. I would have thought Billy Jean King was a big enough name to have her own name listed.

Did you know that women sometimes chose to keep their maiden name after marriage? Of course you did. But did you know that this isn’t just a modern thing. According to Sharon DeBartolo Carmack in her book Telling Her Story, Lucy Stone (1819-1893), refused to change her name after marriage and the women that followed in her footsteps were called, “Lucy Stoners.” Stoners have a totally different meaning today.

Then there is the fact that when you research in some other countries and even in parts of the US, it was common practice for women to keep their maiden name for legal documents, Quaker meeting records, Dutch records, and to change their name back after widowhood. (Carmack). So, does all of this make it easier to find the name? I think it certainly means that as researchers we must know what the practice is in the location we are looking or on whatever documents we are looking at or time period. We haven’t even touched on multiple marriages. Was the name we found her maiden name or the name of a previous spouse?

What do we do about all of this? We learn what we can about naming traditions in various countries and time periods. We look for evidence on legal documents such as birth and death records. Look at the FAN club on the census records to see what hints we find from those living near the couple. Research the hints to see who they were and how they may have been connected to our ancestor. Where were they all from? Does that tell us anything about where we might look for verification of relationships, names, etc.  I also like Carmack’s tip to think of all the roles women played and what records might that lead to. As she says in her book, “leave no stone unturned.”

Boy, family history research is a lot of work! It isn’t easy! But the stories we can tell!

Let’s circle back to Amanda Hoffman. I decided to take it for what I saw but to keep an open mind about what could be happening. I found her parents, Rhoda Turman whose second husband and Amanda’s father was, Moses Hoffman. She married him the same month and year as her first husband’s death, December of 1823, when she had 8-10 children. December and 10 kids on a farm, wouldn’t you want help?! With all of that, could it still be a mistake? Sure! That is for more research to uncover.

Heidi Geise, education@hqrl.com