The Case of the Missing Mrs

The Case of the

Missing Mrs.Finding Your Female Ancestors

tHE CUSTOM OF WOMEN TAKING THEIR HUSBANDS’ LAST NAMES after marriage is one reason that finding female ancestors can be difficult. Another is that well into the 19th century, it was rare for a woman to own property, a business, or manage her own money. These things were often taken care of by a male relative or spouse, so their names are missing from the types of records where you can often find male ancestors.

I typically suggest searching the census records to find female ancestors first. Likely, you’ll find her married and listed with her husband and children. If you don’t know her maiden name, you can search for marriage records. The marriage record will list your ancestor with her maiden name. It may also list her parents’ names.

After you’ve gleaned all the information you can from census and vital records, you can then search social pages in the local newspapers, women’s clubs directories, announcements and obituaries for your female ancestors.

I took advantage of a free weekend of access to Newspapers.com and found information on my great-grandmother and the house she grew up in. I knew her maiden name and recalled that my mother had said she had been married in Winthrop, Mass. I found two articles from the local newspaper social pages in which parties were thrown for her on her birthday. Details about her ability to sing and dance were wonderful to find. I also found the name of the street that the house was located on, and eventually located the house.

Other records of note for finding a female ancestor include institutional records from asylums, schools, women’s organizations records, family Bibles, letters or diaries and suffrage voter lists and registrations.

African American women will have a more challenging search in finding enslaved ancestors. This will involve finding the slave holder family name and researching their plantation and family records. An excellent resource is Sharon DeBartolo Carmack’s book “A Genealogist’s Guide to Discovering your Female Ancestors.” Carmack provides numerous methods for finding female ancestors and includes a list of records that can be used in your search. There are also a number of case studies in finding female ancestors that illustrate the use of her suggested research methods that you can adapt to your own search.

For one-on-one appointments and questions about genealogy, please call 336-703-3070 or: forsythlibrary@ gmail.com. I| S

— KAREN FEENEY, collection supervisor N.C. Collection