Genealogy Chat

Helen PMed me.

It looks like Jean Else/Smith also went on to marry a Smith. Very confusing trying to find more info. I found 2 sisters but she drops the Else from their births.

Pretty sure I found her friend's sister on this site and have passed this info. on.

I wonder if Jean was born Else which was her mother's maiden name and then her mother married a Smith?

Rose

You can add details here or PM me if you like. Sounds like you might have enough to go on. You can search for births with the mother's maiden name on Ancestry.

Rose

She was put in the care of Barnardos, then fostered, its hard to get information out of them.

She has first names of her mothers siblings and hers and years of birth, but thats all

Your friend could look for siblings on Ancestry now that all births are indexed.

Rose

The other common reason for someone to change their name is that their mother remarried, and they took on their stepfather's name.

thanks porkie pie, good site. i dont think my friend will have much look trying to find her mother with a name like Jean Smith.

Helen

Jean could have been married, but I would guess that this wording more likely means that she just used the name SMITH sometimes.

Gwyn

For a better understanding of any info an a BMD cert read

http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/indexbd.htm

Roy

Thanks Gwyn, so you think Jean could have been married?

Usually a certificate would say.......
Jean ELSE formerly SMITH, implying that Jean's maiden name was SMITH, but it had changed to ELSE ...( probably after marriage)

The wording on your friend's cert. suggests that Jean was known by either or both surnames.

Gwyn

Hi, my friend has just received her birth cert and it says mothers name Jean Else otherwise Smith, does anyone know what this means.

Helen