Hi Folks, Many of the women were noted with their maiden names. It's commonplace for women in this part of Scotland to be referred to with their maiden names, you'll see it in the registers, in the census and on the gravestones. I suppose it conveys that they were people in their own right, not just the wives of their husbands. The census where the woman's surname was crossed out may have been due to the census being checked. Enumerators were supposed to follow strict rules, eg rounding down ages in the 1841 census. It may be that women were supposed to have been noted with their husbands surname, but the area enumerator 'corrected' the entry later. Quite often you will see surnames crossed out, along with any other information that the original enumerator kindly noted. If you think this is the case you'll probably notice a different pen/pencil has been used. I've noticed this quite a lot in Latheron parish, along with some women being noted as, say, Widow Henderson rather than noting her Christian name. Not very handy if there are no relatives living with her! As for the Spinster, if she was definately married, then that was probably an occupation. No relationships etc are noted in the 1841 census. Hope this helps Sara Donaldson