In a message dated 28/01/2008 2:25:38 GMT Standard Time, [email protected] writes: She could have been previously or subsequently married to a Geddes ( her Death Certificate should give any previous marriage partner.) This would depend on the knowledge of the person registering the death. It is not uncommon for the informant, even a family member, to be ignorant of all the relevant details. I have several instances of a son/daughter registering a parent's death and being unaware of their grandmother's full maiden name or that there had been a previous marriage. Or she may have been adopted.Her Birth Certificate may help there. Unless the original Birth Certificate is available this is unlikely. I had the fortunate position to be in knowledge of a child's mother and the fact that she was adopted along with an adopted surname. When following this up all I got was a copy of the adoption at the local court showing the adoptive father and the new surname. No mention was made of the birth name. However, as the mother's surname was known I was able to trace the original birth registration and name. That entry was annotated later to show an adoption had taken place. The sad thing is that the child grew up and eventually died not knowing she had a sibling as her mother had another illegitimate child but whether or not this was to the same father neither I nor anyone else in the family know. However, I was instrumental in bringing together the offspring of the two siblings after taking careful steps to ensure they were happy for this to happen. Or she could have been born illegitimate. The Birth Cert again of help.Illegit children were usually named after their Father ie would take the father's surname rather than the Mothers. Only if the father accepted he was the child's parent. There are numerous instances where the child is registered as illegitimate with the mother's surname as the father is unwilling to accept the situation. If he did the certificate will be signed by both the mother and the father as informants. However, there can be a clue as to the father's surname if a middle name is given as often the mother would use the father's surname as a middle name for the child. Alternatively, there may be a record of the mother having raised a paternity suit in the courts and if the court found in her favour this would be recorded in the Register of Corrected Entries and the child's name would be amended via the RCE but not in the original entry. If a paternity suit was raised and the father was of some standing in his community it is more than likely the local press would carry the story and this can be quite revealing particularly if a substantial inheritance might be involved. Ian A C Scott