Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Strategies for Finding the Women in your Family Tree

3 Strategies for Finding the Women in your Family Tree

To find the elusive female ancestors you will need to broaden your search to include direct and collateral lines. It will involve additional work on your part but you’ll learn a lot more about your family in the process.

Strategy #1 – Research Her Husbands (all of them)
Research her husband(s) thoroughly - If your ancestor was married more than once, it’s an absolute necessity to thoroughly search for records on all of her husbands and marriages. Each of her husbands would have created records that contain information about her.

#1Land records: Look for land deeds that indicate a gift, sale or inheritance. These records would contain her father’s name and most likely her married name, along with her husband’s name making it easier to connect them. 

#2 – Probate records: Wills are another great source that would mention her (and possibly her spouse) along with her father’s surname.

#3 – Court records: There may be court records that a spouse, or the death of a spouse would generate.

#4 – Marriage records: There are many types of records created prior to a marriage. Some to look for are: license and announcements, banns and bonds, civil registrations, divorce.

Census Records:
# 1 – Locate every census record (federal and state) that her husband(s) would be included on.

#2 - Look at the actual image of the census record. See who is living with them in each census. Often times, an elderly parent would move in when their spouse died. Other times, a niece or nephew might be living with them. If this niece or nephew is the child of one of her brothers it would lead you to her possible surname. Another relative to look for in their home would be a sister or sister-in-law.

The Husband’s Siblings
#1 – Fully research all of her husband(s) siblings and who they married. Often times, brothers and sisters would marry the brothers and sisters of a neighboring family. If you notice common surnames, you will want to search for the parents of those individuals to see if they have a daughter with the same first name as your ancestor.

Cemetery Records
#1 – Search for the headstone(s) of both her and her husband. Her maiden name might be included. 
#2 – If they are buried in a family cemetery that is not the surname of her married name, it might be her line.
#3 – Check burial records for adjacent plots to see who is buried nearby.


Strategy #2 – Research Her Children

Research all of your female ancestor’s children – not just the child you descend from. In the past, there were a large number of children in a family, and this creates more opportunities for you to find at least one record that contains her maiden name.

The records that children create that may contain their mother’s maiden name are:
#1 – Baptismal record
#2 – Marriage record (there may be more than one if they married several times)
#3 – Death record
Don’t skip over the children who died young. Your ancestor’s marriage or death record may not have listed her maiden name, but one of their sibling’s records might. You might also locate the town and country from which the parents immigrated from in your search, which would be an added bonus.

Strategy #3 – Research Newspapers

Newspapers contain the daily social activities of your ancestors. Often times the female ancestors were listed as Mrs. (insert her husband’s name), but this doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to find her maiden name. Look for the following items in newspapers:

#1 – Wedding announcements
#2 – Obituaries: She would most likely be listed with her married and maiden name in her parent’s obituary. Her family might also include her maiden name in her obituary.
#3 – Social activities: You might find a mention in the paper that her mother (listed by name) is visiting her.

Some ancestors are easy to trace, while others can be a challenge. The latter are the ones that will require a strategy in order to uncover the mystery. There are many types of documents, such as the ones listed above that will provide an opportunity for you to glean the maiden names of your female ancestors. Take the challenge and dig deep in search of the women in your family tree. They are the other half of your tree and their lines are equally as important in your genealogical quest.

In closing, stay organized, be persistent and search for every possible record that might lead you to the answers you’re searching for.