Marital Status : "Widowed" ?

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LRESA500

Marital Status : "Widowed" ?

Legg inn av LRESA500 » 04 okt 2004 07:00:46

I have come across 3 or 4 relatives in the 1910 & 1920 census who list their
marital status as "Wd" when I know that their spouses were still alive. Was
widowed used interchangably with divorced or was it just a social stigma of the
time ?

Barb Chandler

Re: Marital Status : "Widowed" ?

Legg inn av Barb Chandler » 04 okt 2004 09:14:32

I wonder if widowed was used interchangeably with divorced because of
the social stigma. I have a ancestor who lists herself on the 1910 and
1920 census as "widow." I have a marriage certificate showing her
husband remarried in 1903.

LRESA500 wrote:

I have come across 3 or 4 relatives in the 1910 & 1920 census who list their
marital status as "Wd" when I know that their spouses were still alive. Was
widowed used interchangably with divorced or was it just a social stigma of the
time ?



http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~barbc46/
Traveling Through The Generations

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Re: Marital Status : "Widowed" ?

Legg inn av ... » 05 okt 2004 04:16:40

"LRESA500" <lresa500@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041004010046.28660.00000228@mb-m05.aol.com...
I have come across 3 or 4 relatives in the 1910 & 1920 census who list
their
marital status as "Wd" when I know that their spouses were still alive.
Was
widowed used interchangably with divorced or was it just a social stigma
of the
time ?


I'd say yes. A divorced or separated woman was referred to as a "grass
widow". In fact that term was used at least in the 70's by R.L. Polk in
their city directories. (the shortest and worst summer job I had while in
college was going door to door verifying city directory information. )

....

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