Question about Italian Death Records

[djm1228]

Hello, When a wife died in the 1890s in Italy, is the death record under the maiden name? I think I found the death record and it mentions that she's the wife of ..... Both names match they people for. I just wondered what the standard was for recording deaths back then. I have the record but I can't seem to figure out how to upload it. I can email it to someone if they don't mind. Thanks, Diane

[Tessa78]

Yes, a wife's death record was recorded using her maiden name. If she was married, her husband was identified after the names of her parents usually.

You can easily upload your image using http://postimage.org/
After you upload your image you will need to copy and paste the "forum link" and post it here...

T.

[johnnyonthespot]

Expanding T.'s answer a bit, please note this important fact:

Italian women, even today, never relinquish their maiden name. There is no concept nor facility for an Italian woman to legally change her surname after marriage as is common in the United States. An Italain woman's legal name is the name on her birth certificate until the day she dies; her driver's license, passport, tax ID (Codice Fiscale), health card & records, and so on, are all in her birth name and stay that way for life (and death, as you have already found).

A note of interest for us, is the way Italian woman appeared on passenger manifests. Although there are variations, these seem to be most common based on records I have reviewed:

a) Woman travelling with husband and children:
Smith, John
wife Mary
son William
daughter Jane

b) Woman and children travelling separately (without husband/father):
Jones, Mary
Smith, William
Smith, Jane

American women who gain Italian citizenship through jure sanguinis or marriage (as my wife did) are usually surprised to see that their new Italian passports are created using their maiden name. This needs to be taken into account when booking travel into or out of Italy and other EU member states if she intends to use her Italian passport.

When necessary to identify a woman as a spouse, using the example above, the proper form is "Mary Jones in Smith".

[djm1228]

Thank you. A few things make sense now that didn't. I'll try to post the image. Thanks, Diane