Finding a Maiden Name: Mission Impossible?

My great grandmother Fanny Sands Butcher was raised by her father and stepmother Philadelphia.  By 1841, Fanny had been married for two years and was not listed in the 1841 census with William and Philadelphia.  In 1851, Philadelphia's mother, Philadelphia Elliot, age 90, was living with William and his wife Philadelphia.  Was Elliot the maiden name of William's wife?  Quite possibly, unless the mother-in-law had been widowed and remarried at some point in time.

There was a marriage record for a William Sands married to a Philadelphia Reader in 1823, a year following the death of William's fist wife.  So was Philadelphia's maiden name Reader and not Elliot?  Or had she been married before?  A "Phillis Elliot" married John Reader in 1812 and a John Reader had died in 1822.  Could that be Philadelphia Reader, a widow, who married William Sands?

A Philadelphia Elliot was born in 1794 to James and Philadelphia Elliot.  So it is quite possible that Philadelphia was married in 1812 to John Reader, at the age of eighteen.  Philadelphia Elliot, the mother, was living with an Alice Reader in the 1841 census.  An Alice Elliot had married a Thomas Reader in 1814.  So Alice was the sister of Philadelphia and their mother lived in both of their households at two separate times.  Both sisters married men by the last name of Reader!  Additionally, in 1851 a Reader family lived next door to the Sands family and were probably relations.

With all of these facts or evidence in mind, I determined that Fanny's stepmother was Philadelphia Elliot Reader Butcher and that Fanny would have been about three years old when her father remarried.  I also found christening records for two sons born to Philadelphia and her first husband, John and James Reader who were ten and eight years of age, at the time of the marriage.  So not only did Fanny have a stepmother but also two stepbrothers.  Her one and only biological brother died as an infant in 1822.

So though it may seem like Mission Impossible when trying to determine a maiden name, sometimes going through the back door or side door leads to a discovery!  At least in this case it did!