WORTH CHECKING: Unusual first or middle names might be Mother’s Maiden Name

While looking in the newspaper archives for Charles E. Ludington, I happened upon an 1896 marriage announcement for Miss Florence Durand of Lake Forest, IL and Mr Ludington Patton of Milwaukee.  Ludington is one of my family names and some of them did live in Milwaukee, so I wondered if Mr Patton was related to my Ludingtons who originated in New York.  I had not encountered the family name of Patton previously.

Doing more research I found that Ludington Patton was born in Nov 1871 to James E Patton and his wife Sarah E Ludington – yeah, Wisconsin records can be SO helpful!  Then checking census records for the family, I found that his mother Sarah was born in Kentucky in 1839 – and she matched up with someone already in my tree.  She was the oldest daughter of New York born Harrison Ludington,the 13^th Governor of Wisconsin. Like with many females, it can be hard to locate them if they change their name through marriage.

I have many individuals in my tree with their mother’s maiden name used as a first or middle name.  In fact, Ludington Patton’s daughter was named Sarah Ludington Patton. So it's worth checking.