How can I find out the last name of an ancestor?

My parents divorced when I was four and I have not been in contact with anyone on my paternal side. However, I am really curious as to my ancestry on that side. I know the first name of my paternal grandmother and her married name. I want her maiden name though. I also have the town where she grow up and a range of birth years. How can I find out her maiden name?

How can I find out the last name of an ancestor?
I would start by attempting to see if you can get access to marriage records from the town your paternal grandmother lived in, and see if a marriage certificate/record exists (check town hall or library or similar). I have seen marriage certificates/records before that included the maiden name of the bride, and in some cases the parents of the bride and groom names as well.





Another option, if you can afford to, is travel to said town and do some snooping around in person. It may be expensive and time consuming, but I know it works if you're willing to invest in it and have some luck on your side (my grandfather did just this for a vacation one year and with the help of town officials and adoption officials, helped crack an adoption mystery in our own family)





Good luck.
Reply:LSP gave a great answer. If you have a good long-distance plan and her name isn't "Smith" or "Johnson", you could try calling everyone in the county with her surname and see if anyone knew anything. If you do that, spend some time rehearsing an opening line; something that will assure people you are honest, are not selling anything and don't want money.
Reply:if you have the details of your paternal grandmother search on freebmd fill in details for the marriage you will find info you need, and write all info down including vol and page as you can then go onto ONS and order the marriage certificate, the certificate will have your grandmothers maiden name and her fathers name on it, it will also have the age when she married, you will then be able to search for the birth. if you need help, let me know i can find info for you tonight