Hi Joyce, this is a Scottish custom. Linda Merle ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: "Joyce Hamilton" <jhamilton4@earthlink.net> Date: Thu, 1 Dec 2005 22:55:11 -0800 >A few years ago, I visited the center and hill cemeteries in Blandford, >Massachusetts (one of the early New England Scotch-Irish towns). Many of the >tombstones there list the women under their maiden names. For example, "John >Hamilton 1755 - 1846 His Wife Ruth Ferguson 1763 - 1848". > >I was told that it was customary for a woman to use her own family name >until her husband died. Then she became "the Widow [husband's last name]". > >Was this a Scotch-Irish custom, or peculiar to Blandford? I've never >noticed it in an English cemetery. > >Joyce Hamilton > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ Sent via the WebMail system at mail.fea.net