New insights for researching women's maiden names

In searching for female ancestors, the challenge is not only in determining a woman's maiden name, but also how the maiden name may have been used after marriage. A recent article in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, "Genealogy: To help your research, here are 10 things you may not know about women’s maiden names," provides some good information on how maiden names have been used in various countries and cultures. For example, it may help you to know that Quaker women often used their maiden name as a middle name after marriage or that in Europe, German and Polish Catholic women’s deaths were recorded using only their maiden names, not their married names. These and other very useful insights are presented in the article.