The Quest for a Name in the Year 1940.

This post has been brewing for weeks – ever since I spoke to my neighbour who is tracing their family tree, going back to the 1940’s and early.

For her, it started when she received a phone call from a long lost cousin doing exactly the same thing. So let the story begin.

Let’s go back to the 1940’s just after the war – in rural Victoria, Australia.

Mother Jones, married Father Smith, Mother Jones is now known as Mother Smith to the town. A child is born and named Child Smith.

Father Smith leaves, never to be seen again. Mother Smith (nee Jones) remains Mother Smith until stepfather Burke, steps up to the plate. As Mother Smith (nee Jones) has never divorced Father Smith and the general public don’t know. Mother Smith, is now known as Mother Burke as she takes the name of Stepfather Burke and child Smith is now known as Child Burke.

Is any of this making sense?

Until a passport was required child Burke had no idea. When the documentation was sighted – it raised all sorts of questions. And Child Burke went on a quest.

Child Burke, approaches Mother Burke (nee Jones) and asks for an explanation. Mother Burke (nee Jones) explains that her real name is Mother Smith (nee Jones), and the Child Burke’s name is really Child Smith and the reason why is; Mother Burke (nee Jones) never divorced Father Smith. So she couldn’t change her name. But she couldn’t live in sin, so for all intents and purposes she changed her name and Child Burke’s name to match Father Burke’s name.

Child Burke/Smith is now wondering who he really is. In the end he bites the bullet and changes his name by deed-poll to Child Jones, since he never knew his ‘real’ father and since he wasn’t related to Father Burke, and Mother Smith (nee Jones) was still living as Mother Burke. His only connection with any name was Child Jones.

The world we create can be very complicated sometimes!

(and this is a real life story!)