need help in finding info on these people.

Question

i am looking for my great grandma clara harmon who changed her name, when my grandma was born in 1911 to mary bell wilkinson.the same with her husband edwin harmon changed his name to charles edward harmon.they both changed their names on the birth certficiate of their childs birth.the childs name on birth cert.is inez harmon changed to amy alma harmon.i cant find any info on any of them.i really want to know why they changed thier names.it was amended on july 1 1963.why?????clara and edwin were married on july.2,1907,by chas.a.davidson. file #on birth cert.h2476.edwin harmon born in texas,clara harmon born in mo.i need help...thanks angel

Answer 1

If they changed their names "officially" (as you indicate by "they both changed their names on the birth certficiate of their childs birth")  there should, hopefully be a paper trail somewhere in the state archives. However if it wasn't an official change of name, then that is going to be very hard to substantiate.

One possibility is the women being married more than once due to the death of a spouse

Answer 2

Not really what you want to know, but herethey are in the 1940 census.  https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K7WG-WCT  

Answer 3

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MCMX-VCT

 Is this the family?  You can see Clara is widowed at this point.

 

You mentioned that the official change was recorded in 1963.  It seems likely that she applied for some sort of benefits at that point and didn't know how to find her birth records.