Widow's Surname & Illegitimate Children

Elizabeth Gomoll

I am researching a collateral relative in Zechin/Berlin area. Her husband, Friedrich Julius Grützmacher, died in 1865, a few months before their 4th child was born. After his death, she had 3 more children, but no father was named in the register, so they were illegitimate. These next 3 children are indexed as Breitkreuz, not Grützmacher.

Question: 1) Did Mama's name revert to her maiden name when she was widowed, or 2) because the children were not her husband's they carried her maiden name, or 3) did the indexers just go with the first name they saw for her?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Liz

ewgomoll@yahoo.com

JohnsonGreg

My experience is #2. Since the child doesn't belong to the late husband it doesn't receive his name. The mother still typically uses her late husbands name until she marries again. But my encounters are limited so maybe this doesn't always happen.

Here is the actual image of the above record. It gives her maiden and married names.

Ulrich Neitzel

I agree with @JohnsonGreg . #2 is exactly what happened to my grandmother. Her mother, née Wegner, married a man with the surname Ehlert and had six children with him, all with the name Ehlert. After the death of her husband she had two more (illegitimate) children, among them my grandmother, who got the surname Wegner. My GG mother bore the surname Ehlert until her death.

Elizabeth Gomoll

Thank you for your help!

Liz

Elizabeth Gomoll