Genealogy Chat

This may be re-inventing the wheel, but I've had leads to unknown maiden names recently from census records or bmd indexes which give the (usually eldest) son's second Christian name. So if a name like John Bradshaw Smith crops up, there's a good chance his mother's maiden surname was Bradshaw. And if you've got a rough date for the marriage and you find Smith and Bradshaw with the same volume and page number in the bmd it's a pretty good chance (almost certain) you've got it. By the way, I made that name up, it's not one of my relatives.

if that does not work try looking a generation back. I have 2 generations where one child had the forenames Martha West, though this was a strange one that I can't tie in.
The first 5 children in the first generation had no middle name but the next 5 had the middle names Ward, West, (none), Rimmer & Rimmer. Have not been able to find any connections yet but surely they must be there somewhere!

Personally I'd order the childs birth certificate to double check before I assumed an unusal middle name might be the mothers maiden name.

I've figured out mothers maiden names by putting the fathers full name and the mothers maiden name in the freebmd, then looking at the options given, but again as with the method of rely ing on second first names its an educates guess until you order certificates.

The other issue is what if you have found who you assume to be your relative on the census, but its not, but you assume they are they don't have a middle name but an assumed older sibling does, could mean you end following people back you think are you ancestors but are not.

The method may work, but I am a stickler for double and triple checking things where possiable, learnt the hardway not to jump to conclusions, means my trees growing very slowly (and is pretty pricey) but I know as far as posssiable (well my ancestors may have lied) that my direct ancestors are my direct ancestors.

Never go on an assumption

I came across the middle name D'arcy as a middle name - Yes thought I , his ( it was a bloke) mother or his Grandmother maybe.

Nope, no rhyme or reson at all - except to confuse geneaglogists of the future

I agree that the only sure way is to buy certificates (I have many) but sometimes it gives a clue that you may be eventually able to prove by eg baptism records especially before 1837 which is the stage most of my research is at.

Never assume anything certs are the best way to confirm details. a middle name of a child could be a mothers maiden name or a fathers surname usually when born out of wedlock, and also a fathers name if the woman had an affair but the husband new the child was not his, also the same goes for a double barreled surname eg, John William Smith-Jones.

and finding both names with the same vol and page number does not as you put it,

a pretty good chance (almost certain) you've got it?

in your example John Bradshaw Smith their is just as good a chance that smith is the mothers married or maiden name and the child was the illegitimate child of Mr Bradshaw

That is why you need to follow up with cert

Roy

Yes, certificates. I didn't mention them because it should be taken as read that they are essential for 100% certainty.

I agree with you all that certificates are essential where possible.

The point I was trying to make was there are NO certificates available for pre 1837 which is when the tip may be most useful as a hint to look for especially if researching a common name in an area.

do also consider that some names were given that have no family ties,
one relitive from scotland was names Alexander John Anderson LUMSDEN b 1898 a family name perhaps? but no it seems that Alexander John ANDERSON was the local minister and the instance of this name were very high at the time.

Be careful, I was lead astray by making that assumption at the beginning of my research. I assumed that my grandfather's middle name was his mother's maiden name. I was wrong, it turned out that it was his grandmother's maiden name.

But the middle name did solve a mystery for me. My gg grandfather had about 8 kids and the first 5 had the middle name of Bradshaw, but the next 3 did not. That led me to discover that his first wife had died and he remarried.

You just have to take care to not make assumptions.

Maggie

My grandfather and all his siblings had the middle name Armitage, the reason being - their father's surname was Armitage, he was unable to marry their mother as he was still married to his wife, who left him with a child to raise.

My gggrandfather's first name was Holland, I haven't found anyone in his ancestry with surname Holland, I've been told by a family historian, that sometimes children were named after family friends, or, people whom the family respected ie. employees, theologians, doctors etc.

So, no, one can't assume a surname used as middle, or forename indicates a family connection, though often it does.