Does anyone know when this "law" [referred to by the DMV employee] was enacted that said that a married woman had to use her maiden name as her middle name? -----Original Message----- >From: LMiller603@aol.com >Sent: Feb 15, 2008 9:40 AM >To: nclincol@rootsweb.com >Subject: [NCLINCOL] Legal name changes for women > >One thing to note in researching southern women. In the past and sometimes >now, When southern women got married, I'm told that their maiden name became >their middle name. >So, if you had a Sarah Alice Crow marry Thomas Collins, Sarah might then >appear on a census as Sallie C. Collins and be over looked. >This is not a national practice. Until I had an office job in the South, I >had never heard of this practice. >I asked employees to complete a form. One lady omitted her middle name. >When I took the form back to her, she said that she didn't know which name to >use because she'd been married twice. I asked her to explain. >According to the Department of Motor Vehicles in Lincoln County, it used to >be a law for the maiden name to become the middle name. I wonder what the >younger generation has decided to do. I would imagine they are following the >paths of their mother. >Please note, my main research is Ballards. Lincoln County Ballards migrated >all over the US but mainly south west. A branch of Ballards migrated from >Lincoln County to Greene County Illinois and other northern states where this >practice isn't followed. I've lived in the South most of my life and didn't >know this practice existed. It's something women did by decree of law and >tradition. It could be confusing for a researcher having never heard of this >naming practice. >Lynne D. Miller > > > >**************The year's hottest artists on the red carpet at the Grammy >Awards. Go to AOL Music. >(http://music.aol.com/grammys?NCID=aolcmp00300000002565) > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NCLINCOL-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message Lynn Wesson