General Chat

When it was the woman who introduced money into the marriage, usually because she had no brothers, sometimes, the bride's father insisted the husband took the wife's name, to retain the 'heritage'.

I found a great x lots grandmother had a son out of wedlock (early 1800's).
The father's name was given, but great x lots grandmother never married him, or anyone, and had no more children. The son used his mother's maiden name all his life. I'm glad, as his mother's name was unusual, his father's name wasn't - the unusual name makes life so much easier in genealogy!!.

Also, My great grandmother gave her surname as that of the man she had 9 children by, despite not being married. They married after his first wife died - 24 years after they met, and just before the birth of child number 10!! :-D :-D

I am not saying that this does but may apply to your names BUT I have researched a few that did the same.

Investigation showed that one family member had either committed a crime and was punished (let's lose that name for a while) then they readopted it and perhaps some family members chose to hide the original again.

I found one marriage in the late 1800s. I knew the chaps Father had been accused of rape. On the cert on being asked for his Father's details he 'refused to answer' and that was entered on his marriage cert. Later he slightly altered the spelling of his surname.

Lots of possible reasons why they may have chosen to do this, a little digging in the newspapers may help.

Of course may they just have been absolute pains in order to confuse later generations!

Sue

An ancestor of mine took a mistress and adopted her surname. This caused problems finding him on the 1901 and 1911 census.
It was only his address on his death certificate that enabled me to tie it up.
He married her (in his proper name) after his first wife died in 1918.

Sorry if I put this message in the wrong place.
A famile feud or something similar is a possibility.
This is a real mystery.
It only come to life when my oldest brother in law looked at his father's marriage certificate ,and found both names not just one.

Could it be some sort of family feud that was temporarily resolved, then blew up again before finally being sorted?

It appears that my wife's family changed names from Edge to Hall then back to Edge ,
back to Hall then Edge Hall finally back to Edge in the 1930s..This started in mid 1800s.
Can't imagine why .It is very difficult to follow researching on here.
This is in Oakamoor area of Staffordshire.
Peter.