Someone mentioned that the deeds were often in the wife's name rather than the husband's. Does anyone know why that was the custom? In my parents' case, they signed their mortgage papers two days after Pearl Harbor so it may have been prudent thinking on my father's part as he volunteered for the service on December 8. But I see the same thing happened with my great grandparents in 1895: the house was in my great grandmother's name. Kathy