Tracing Female Ancestors - Thinking Outside the Box
June 1, 2024
Beginners Level Article
Tracing Female Ancestors – Thinking Outside the Box
For many genealogists, the phrase “think outside the box” is often the best way to approach research challenges. This phrase is especially appropriate when it comes to tracing female ancestors. Here are some “outside the box” thoughts to consider as you begin the research process. Prior to the 20th century, identities of most women were by law and custom interwoven with that of their husbands, fathers, or male siblings. How can you try to overcome this challenge? There are essentially two categories of sources that will put you in the best position for success in terms of usable information. 1. Sources that were created by women themselves. 2. Sources that were created about women (often by other women).
Examples of items created by women themselves would include women who wrote letters to family members or friends, kept personal diaries, or recorded events in a family Bible. Although some might dispute it, based on feedback from several lectures I've attended over the decades, I would also include women who stitched quilts or samplers in this category since these materials often contained names of people who they were made in honor or memory of or in recognition of some important family event.
Female ancestors who were literate often kept family Bibles, wrote letters to family and friends, or kept a diary or journal of their activities and thoughts. One of my recent patrons discovered a very sad family secret involving her great grandmother. Everyone in the family knew she maintained a detailed diary throughout her life. Nobody could locate it. Recently on her death bed, one of the neighbors finally admitted that the reason nobody could ever locate the diary was because her great grandmother wanted it buried with her.
The reasoning was twofold: 1. She felt the information was too personal about her feelings and would impact her legacy. 2. Some of the information might eventually result in Potential legal retribution towards the family because of incident involving some powerful local politicians. That practice of burying the diary with her was legal in the era when the death took place, Today that practice is prohibited by law.
If letters, diaries, or family Bibles have survived and been handed down through the generations in your family, this will provide a wonderful resource for your family history research. Searching through these types of sources often leads to the discovery of recorded family events that never appear anywhere else. A prime example would be an infant born in the late 1700s that lived only a few hours, days, weeks, etc. Based on the norm for that era, his birth and death may only be recorded in the family Bible (if the family maintained one) and nowhere else. This would make it the only record of the baby’s existence.
Letters to other women usually contained news items about births, marriages, and deaths in the family. If women lived on the frontier, they would write back about events to relatives and friends back home. Gossip was another major topic discussing “facts” that never appear anywhere else. Letters from women to men may contain information on daily activities. These may also provide clue’s into a couple’s relationship. Diaries tend to record people’s feelings whereas journals tend to cover activities and events. On the flip side, the terms can be interchangeable.
Examples of sources that were created about women may include oral history or memory project interviews conducted by family members, historical or genealogical societies or government entities such as those conducted as part of the WPA project started by Franklin D. Roosevelt. In other cases, personal diaries that were kept by women have later been incorporated into books or online diaries published by authors (men and women) who sometimes add their own historical context to the information. Published family histories are another potential source. While the males tend to have the most detailed emphasis, there will be details on the lives and activities of female ancestors within the families.
Cemetery records and tombstone inscriptions sometimes may be the only place where you would find proof that a female ancestor existed, especially if she died young. Church records can also be especially useful. Females tended to have more opportunities to participate in church related social affairs, especially if schools were attached to the church, than would be the case in general society. Probate records, specifically the wills of fathers and husbands can be useful for research. Colonial court records often hold fascinating facts about women. They may have been accused of such crimes aa witchcraft, scolding husbands, gossiping about neighbors, being disrespectful to ministers, or refusing to sit in the women’s designated seating areas within a church. While education for women and girls tended to be limited to domestic skills such as sewing, needlework, etc., many women attended schools for parts of their lives. Many eventually became teachers as education became more accepted.
For more detailed information on this topic, please visit the resources shown below. I also have a 12 page study guide Research Strategies for Tracing Female Ancestors that is available free upon request.
You Tube Tutorials Cooke, Lisa Louise and Shelly Bishop. 12 Strategies for Finding Female Ancestors' Maiden Names – 2023 – 21 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLx2rktNWIA