Genealogy Chat

Several of my male ancesters married widows, but when I try to show the wife on Ancestry it won´t accept her previous married surname because it isn´t the same as her father´s .
Any ideas how I can overcome this,because showing her by her maiden name is inaccurate.
Any suggestions please.
Marion

I'm not sure about Ancestry because I don't have my tree on there - but on most family tree programs you use a female's maiden name and if she was married before you add an extra spouse to her, which then explains that she had another surname.

Kath. x

Thanks Kathleen.
Have got their former spouses but Ancestry appears to only want to accept their maiden names,which means that the whole thing fails to link up.
Must be doing something wrong.
Marion

I haven't tried this lately, but I'm sure it protests then you can click something to continue anyway - this also has happened to me when surname is the same. Just double-check, might have changed.
Jan

Hang on, just realised what you are trying to do! The correct entry is her maiden name - the name she married under doesn't matter, it is her original name you need as this identifies the person.
I would say ancestry is correct.
Jan

Yes, I was just about to say the same. You always enter a woman by her maiden name. So, Ancestry is correct.

Thank you all for your help.
Doesn´t make much sense to me to enter a name which is not the one she married under, but obviously that´s what I have to do.
Marion

It really does make sense - think of the name as identifying who she is historically. The married name is meaningless, it's like if she decided to just start calling herself something else - you would still refer to her by her real name. Changing name on marriage is just a tradition in this country, and a convenient thing to do.
Jan

Always identify a woman by her maiden name, it's who she is. You can always add another marriage for her to show that she was previously married.

As others have said it is the maiden name you should enter - however in these circs I sometimes put the first married name in as a middle name.

That´s a good idea Heather. I did try putting it in brackets, but Ancestry won´t accept that either.
Marion

Hi Marion,
I had the same problem and got round it by putting Smith/Jones ( not the correct names ) and Ancestry accepted it.

Sue

Another point - if you don't use her maiden name, nobody will be able to work out whether the children are hers or not.