Marriage & Surnames

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Special Challenge: Did the Female Veteran Marry?

If you are researching a female Veteran, you will likely encounter a particular challenge: In this era, women who married almost always adopted their husband’s last name. Censuses from 1950 and earlier do not list the maiden name of a married woman. Without having a full name for searching earlier records, you will have trouble finding the female Veteran. Usually, it is necessary to turn to another type of source to bridge the gap. Such sources include marriage records, oral histories, and obituaries.

When researching female Veterans in the census, a useful first step is to establish if and when they had married. The census might not answer all questions but reading it strategically can usually suggest answers to these questions. This in turn can help you narrow your search for a marriage record.

Working Backward in Time

Starting with the 1950 census and working backward is usually easier than starting in 1940 and working your way forward. This is because the 1950 census will tell you a woman’s marital status. A woman described as never married (“Nev”) would still have her original surname, which makes it easier to find her in the 1940 census.

Marriage Date

How to read the census: Wives typically lived with their husbands. Even if the husband wasn’t the head of the household, the married couple and any children would still have been grouped together in consecutive rows. In this situation, you will not see their relationship directly described as husband and wife—but can usually infer it.
What information do I need? You can often guess when they married based on their age and the ages of any children they might have had.

Soldier and woman, ca. 1942–1945. (Gilder Lehrman Institute, GLC09829.22)

Black and white photograph showing a soldier in a military uniform with his arm around a woman.
Newspaper story with wedding announcement featuring photograph of the bride and groom.

Husband’s Name

Finding the marriage record: Knowing the husband’s full name will make it easier to search for their marriage record. You will have a harder time finding women described as married if they are not living with their spouses.

Wedding announcement of Rita A. Kelly to Private First Class David L. Elwood (who had served in the Army in the Pacific). The News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, March 23, 1945.

Working Forward in Time

If you conduct your research in the opposite direction, i.e., moving forward in time, your task will be trickier. You will often have to infer someone was married because you could not find them in a later census. If you can rule out other possibilities (such as death or emigration to another country), you will need to find a marriage record to advance your research.

You may encounter false matches: marriage records pertaining to people with the same or similar name. Establishing continuity can help. Find the married couple in the 1950 census. Does the age, birth state, and other details of the woman in the 1950 census generally align with the Veteran you have in the 1940 census? If you find an obituary or a gravestone, do the details of military service match what you know about the Veteran you are studying?

Apply What You’ve Learned

Review these two census pages. You will find Rose Myers on row 58 of the 1940 Census and Rose M. Fleischner on row 11 of the 1950 Census. Answer the question below solely on what you can learn from these two sources.

1940 Census Page Featuring Rose Meyers
1950 Census Page featuring Rose Flesicher