[ElizabethHerts]

I have the family of John Williams and his wife Margaret, who on Ancestry trees had the surname of Samuel before marriage.

This is corroborated by the birth of their son Matthew Simon and subsequent children:

WILLIAMS, MATTHEW SIMON SAMUEL
GRO Reference: 1853 M Quarter in SWANSEA UNION Volume 11A Page 392

WILLIAMS, SIMON SAMUEL
GRO Reference: 1854 D Quarter in SWANSEA UNION Volume 11A Page 392

WILLIAMS, ELIZABETH SAMUEL
GRO Reference: 1859 M Quarter in SWANSEA Volume 11A Page 511


However, I can't find registrations for John (born c. 1849) and Margaret (born c. 1850) with the mother's maiden name of Samuel.


I haven't found a marriage for John Williams and Margaret Samuel.

In the Swansea Registration District there are two marriages for a Margaret Samuel in the correct time frame:

First name(s) MARGARET
Last name SAMUEL
Marriage quarter 2
Marriage year 1843
Registration month -
MarriageFinder ™
MARGARET SAMUEL married one of these people
John Stephen, John Smith, John Stephens, James Rees
District Swansea


First name(s) MARGARET
Last name SAMUEL
Marriage quarter 4
Marriage year 1844
Registration month -
MarriageFinder ™
MARGARET SAMUEL married one of these people
Lott Mathews, John Rees, William Williams, David Jones
District Swansea


I'm wondering whether she married, was widowed, then married John Williams and that the first children had her previous married name as the mmn.

One online tree has the specific marriage as here:
8 Apr 1843
Bethesda Chapel, Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales, United Kingdom

So another possibility is that Margaret had already married and been widowed. However, no marriages for a Margaret Samuel to anyone in the Swansea district before that. She was born c. 1821.