While it is not always easy to discover the maiden name of a female ancestor, there are numerous approaches which can be successful, and will perhaps lead to you discovering a completely new branch of your family tree. Or perhaps you want to know more about an ancestor or another person you just know the maiden name of. Maybe you will even find living relatives you never knew anything about!
The most direct and straightforward method to locate maiden names, or find people by maiden name, is to search through marriage records. This can be done at sites like [http://www.findapersonservice.com] or [http://www.searchmaidenname.com] and is usually the best and most reliable option. Marriage records do not only include the marriage license, but also documents like marriage certificate, bonds, and announcements. It is of course helpful to know the marriage location and at least an approximate marriage date - otherwise it can be quite difficult to find the right record.
Another source of correspondence between maiden names and other cues are cemetery records. Quite often, they will list women's maiden names along with the married name, or may also include the maiden name as a middle name or initial.
Maiden name lookup is also possible via census, land, church, birth death records. Land is often inherited from father to daughter, with maiden names being included in the deeds. Church records are a good source for christening records, which typically include the names of the parents along with the maiden name of the mother.
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