What do the ( ) and the [ ] really mean in the indexes?
A. If you see a [ ] with a female name, it indicates other married names and/or surname of sibling if a maiden name isn’t available in the obituary. ( ) indicates a maiden name (if this reads “( )” it indicates that the obituary says she was the wife of… but no maiden name was given. When you see a [ ] with a male name, it indicates his spouse’s maiden name or mother’s maiden name, if his wife’s maiden name isn’t available. In some cases it also could indicate that he was adopted and this was one of the family names. In most cases of adoption, I have tried to use ( ) to indicate the birth surname. So…
