Maiden name help

[khalliday181]

What was Mary's maiden name? I think I read it correctly but want someone to confirm what I think because I can't find her in the records!

[Wellington66]

Mary Matthews formerly Bowen ?
Welly x

[Tickettyboo]

I think its Bowen too (though at a stretch it could be Bourn, hard to tell with such a small sample of handwriting)
It looks like its possibly from a birth cert ?

so you'd be looking to find a marriage for Matthews-Bowen
I looked on FreeBMD, searched the entire database of Marriages
for a Mary Bowen to a spouse called Matthews. Got 7 results ranging from 1851 to 1959.

Maybe a starting point for you as you obviously know a time frame and location

Boo

[BumbleB]

I agree with Bowen.

[khalliday181]

Thanks, Bowen was what I thought.

@Tickettyboo
It was a birth certificate of Mary's daughter in 1887.
Mary was married to William Matthews. They had their first child in either 1883 or 1884.
Mary was born approx 1863, possibly in Ireland. I've not found a UK marriage so maybe they were married in Ireland.

[BushInn1746]

Regarding difficulty finding a Marriage, there is also the possibility of a 2nd or subsequent Marriage too, making a marriage difficult to find in the Marriage Indexes.

When a person remarries for a 2nd time or subsequent time, they don't use their nee name, nor Birth name at that Marriage (they use their Widow surname usually).

Although, if the Bride's Father is given at Marriage his surname should usually be the Bride's Birth name. (Except, if the Bride was Fathered by another man when you may get the real Father's full name, a mix, a made-up, or a blank for her Father).

I found a marriage where she had married young and was a Widow when she was marrying a second time at 19.

Mark

[shanreagh]

Thanks, Bowen was what I thought.

@Tickettyboo
It was a birth certificate of Mary's daughter in 1887.
Mary was married to William Matthews. They had their first child in either 1883 or 1884.
Mary was born approx 1863, possibly in Ireland. I've not found a UK marriage so maybe they were married in Ireland.

If you would like us to search further then it would be good to have further info from you. 

In the UK many families named their children according to a pattern.  In Ireland this is the naming pattern. Not saying that the Irish  would slavishly adopt this but it can give clues.

From Mrs Google

'Traditional Irish naming conventions dictate that the first son is named after the father's father, the second son after the mother's father, and the third son after the father. For daughters, the first daughter is named after the mother's mother, the second daughter after the father's mother, and the third daughter after the mother. These patterns could be used to help trace family history, but parents might also use nicknames or name a child after a deceased sibling.
 
Typical Pattern for Children
First Son: Paternal grandfather (father's father)
Second Son: Maternal grandfather (mother's father)
Third Son: Father
First Daughter: Maternal grandmother (mother's mother)
Second Daughter: Paternal grandmother (father's mother)
Third Daughter: Mother'

So if you have the names of the children of the Matthews/Bowen marriage we might be able to help.

If you could list them in date order that would be great, pl include the names of any children who died.

[trish1120]

Son Johns Birth Reg has mmn as Bowen.

[Tickettyboo]

Births all registered in Birkenhead District, all showing MMN of Bowen

Q3 1883  John Matthews
Q2 1885  William Matthews
Q2 1887  Sarah Matthews
Q4 1889  Mary Matthews
Q4 1891  Alice Matthews
Q2 1894  Martin Matthews

EDIT Meant to add for the above
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/login.asp
Births/deaths index

need to register (free) to search and order and gives MMN for births prior to 1911 unlike the old printed index. Plus, for births over 100 years ago and deaths to 1957 there is a cheaper option of a digital copy of the register entry instantly delivered for £3



I'm struggling to find any baptisms for these children, do you have any idea what their chosen religion was?.

1891 census Piece 2886/ Folio 87/Pages 64 & 65  - Mary born Ireland

1901 census Piece 3393/ Folio 100/Page 41 - Mary now listed with a middle name of Ann and birthplace dittoed as Birkenhead

possible death reg for Mary Q1 1904 Birkenhead age 39

1911 census Piece 21997  RD 452/ ED 40/SD 1/  Schedule 169 (that only seems to work on FindMyPast, Ancestry doesn't appear to show the same fields, but they are still in Frederick St and easily found)

As William is now a widower, the usual clues to number of years married is not recorded:-(

Though Mary's  birthplace isn't consistent on the 2 census returns, William consistently says he was born in Birkenhead. Realistically I'd guess that they met and married after she came from Ireland (if she did come from Ireland - and if they did marry)

I can see a Mary Bowen, born c 1863, Ireland, in the Liverpool 1881 census, she's a servant so no clues on family.

Boo