Can anyone give me a reason/reasons why a person would be recorded as (for example) "John Smith alias Jones" ? Would a married woman have ever been noted by her maiden (say, Smith) and married (say, Jones) surnames as "Mary Smith alias Jones"?
Any enlightenment on this subject would be greatly appreciated!
Patti Metsch
16th century English Aliases
Moderator: MOD_nyhetsgrupper
-
Gjest
Re: 16th century English Aliases
In a message dated 5/11/05 3:39:50 PM Pacific Daylight Time, pmetsch@cox.net
writes:
<< Can anyone give me a reason/reasons why a person would be recorded as (for
example) "John Smith alias Jones" ? Would a married woman have ever been
noted by her maiden (say, Smith) and married (say, Jones) surnames as "Mary Smith
alias Jones"? >>
I have a case like this albeit some time later where the mother married again
and the son at least temporarily took his step-father's surname and so, in a
bastardy case, he was called Edward Brown alias Edward Moultron.
Where one is his birthname the other his stepfather's surname.
Will Johnson
writes:
<< Can anyone give me a reason/reasons why a person would be recorded as (for
example) "John Smith alias Jones" ? Would a married woman have ever been
noted by her maiden (say, Smith) and married (say, Jones) surnames as "Mary Smith
alias Jones"? >>
I have a case like this albeit some time later where the mother married again
and the son at least temporarily took his step-father's surname and so, in a
bastardy case, he was called Edward Brown alias Edward Moultron.
Where one is his birthname the other his stepfather's surname.
Will Johnson
-
Patti Metsch
Re: 16th century English Aliases
In a message dated 5/11/05 3:39:50 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
pmetsch@cox.net
writes:
Can anyone give me a reason/reasons why a person would be recorded as
(for
example) "John Smith alias Jones" ? Would a married woman have ever been
noted by her maiden (say, Smith) and married (say, Jones) surnames as
"Mary Smith
alias Jones"?
Wll Johnson<WJhonson@aol.com> replied:
I have a case like this albeit some time later where the mother married
again
and the son at least temporarily took his step-father's surname and so, in
a
bastardy case, he was called Edward Brown alias Edward Moultron.
Where one is his birthname the other his stepfather's surname.
Will Johnson
Thanks for your comments, Will. I suspect it may be a case of the lady's
mother being married multiple times...
Patti
-
R. Battle
Re: 16th century English Aliases
On Thu, 12 May 2005, Patti Metsch wrote:
<snip>
There was a short discussion of this on this newsgroup back in 2002 (under
the Regarding "Als"(Alias?) subject line) that you might want to check
out.
-Robert Battle
<snip>
Can anyone give me a reason/reasons why a person would be recorded as
(for
example) "John Smith alias Jones" ? Would a married woman have ever been
noted by her maiden (say, Smith) and married (say, Jones) surnames as
"Mary Smith
alias Jones"?
snip
There was a short discussion of this on this newsgroup back in 2002 (under
the Regarding "Als"(Alias?) subject line) that you might want to check
out.
-Robert Battle
-
Patti Metsch
Re: 16th century English Aliases
Thanks for pointing that out, Robert. It was very helpful.
Patti
----- Original Message -----
From: "R. Battle" <battle@u.washington.edu>
To: <GEN-MEDIEVAL-L@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 11:24 AM
Subject: Re: 16th century English Aliases
Patti
----- Original Message -----
From: "R. Battle" <battle@u.washington.edu>
To: <GEN-MEDIEVAL-L@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 11:24 AM
Subject: Re: 16th century English Aliases
On Thu, 12 May 2005, Patti Metsch wrote:
snip
Can anyone give me a reason/reasons why a person would be recorded
as
(for
example) "John Smith alias Jones" ? Would a married woman have ever
been
noted by her maiden (say, Smith) and married (say, Jones) surnames as
"Mary Smith
alias Jones"?
snip
There was a short discussion of this on this newsgroup back in 2002 (under
the Regarding "Als"(Alias?) subject line) that you might want to check
out.
-Robert Battle
-
Chris Dickinson
Re: 16th century English Aliases
Patti Metsch wote:
The use of 'alias' or 'als' merely shows that the person had some claim to
the use of both names. There were a number of different reasons for this :
(1) the most common (more than 90%, in my experience, in the mid-17th
century) was for bastardy. Your woman would be illegitimate, with parents
Smith and Jones. This makes no comment, unlike (2) on the social status of
either parent;
(2) the actual name was Smith, but the Jones family was so much more
important (or relevant within the documentary context) that the Jones
surname was retained. This might happen where your woman was a stepdaughter
or a widow. The reverse could also happen where she married a deeply
inferior husband.
(3) the person, or an ancestor, had acquired a nickname. So John Smith the
Carpenter might become known in his lifetime as John the Carpenter and hence
John Smith als Carpenter, and any child could also become known as Smith
als Carpenter.
Chris
Can anyone give me a reason/reasons why a person would be recorded as (for
example) "John Smith alias Jones" ? Would a married woman have ever been
noted by her maiden (say, Smith) and married (say, Jones) surnames as "Mary
Smith alias Jones"?
Any enlightenment on this subject would be greatly appreciated!
The use of 'alias' or 'als' merely shows that the person had some claim to
the use of both names. There were a number of different reasons for this :
(1) the most common (more than 90%, in my experience, in the mid-17th
century) was for bastardy. Your woman would be illegitimate, with parents
Smith and Jones. This makes no comment, unlike (2) on the social status of
either parent;
(2) the actual name was Smith, but the Jones family was so much more
important (or relevant within the documentary context) that the Jones
surname was retained. This might happen where your woman was a stepdaughter
or a widow. The reverse could also happen where she married a deeply
inferior husband.
(3) the person, or an ancestor, had acquired a nickname. So John Smith the
Carpenter might become known in his lifetime as John the Carpenter and hence
John Smith als Carpenter, and any child could also become known as Smith
als Carpenter.
Chris