Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Searching for the ‘Hidden Half’ of our Family

Searching for the ‘Hidden Half’ of our Family

March is Women’s History Month and it’s soon coming to an end.  Women’s History Month is an observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history.  As a family historian, I am glad we celebrate Women’s History.  But in some ways, the phrase "Women’s History" is an oxymoron.  Throughout the early part of America’s history, most women are not only difficult to find, their history is almost non-existent.

Finding female ancestors is challenging at the best and almost impossible at other times.  Women changed their name when they married and took their husband’s name.  So, unless a marriage record can be found, a woman's maiden name is often elusive.   Laws, legal rights, and social mores further complicates the finding of information about our female ancestors.  Under common law, a husband controlled everything – even land or money given to a woman by her father.  

Prior to 1850, the United States census only listed the head of household.  So, if a woman was married, only her husband would be listed by name, while the wife and other household residents were enumerated by tick-marks in columns.   

Obituaries are wonderful sources of genealogical information, but women were often shortchanged in their own obituaries.  Married women were quite frequently referred to by their husband’s name -- such as “Mrs John Doe”.   Sometimes their own given name is not even mentioned!  Click here for an example of Pearl Hatfield Wilson's obituary.  Note that all of Pearl's daughters are referred to by their husband's name, not their own name.

In a husband’s will, women were often referred to as “my wife”, or in a probate she might simply be called the “Widow”.  A father's will might also refer to his daughter by her husband's name - although she can be referred to by her name.

It was not until 1920 when the 19th Amendment was ratified that women were granted the right to vote.  Prior to that time women did not even show up on voter lists or in poll books. 

DNA Testing to Help Find Maternal Ancestors

DNA Testing might be one of the best ways to find female ancestors.  
Autosomal DNA will connect to all relatives within the last 5 generations.  
Mitochondrial DNA will connect with maternal-line heritage.  Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is given to us by our mothers.   Mothers pass mtDNA to all of their children - both male and female, so we all have mitochondrial DNA.  But, only females can  pass it down.  That means our mtDNA came from our mother, who got it from her mother, who in turn got it from her mother, and so on, back to the beginning of time.
DNA testing is a great way to find missing women in your family tree.  At the bottom of this post are several links to posts about finding women using DNA.

Remembering the Women in My Family

My goal is to remember the women in my family history and try to find their stories.  Below are photos of the grandmothers in my family.  They were the very heart 💗 and soul of their families.  They settled new lands, traveled in wagons, gave birth at home with only their husband or neighbor to help, cooked over campfires or wood stoves, washed clothes on a washboard, grew gardens, made bread, preserved their own food, sang lullabies to their babies, taught their children to believe in God, buried their children and husbands, had faith to carry on, and most of all they loved their families.  We would not be here without their love, strength, and courage.

3 generations of grandmothers from my family tree

I have spent countless hours searching for the “hidden half” of our family.  Many of our female ancestors have stories written and/or photos posted on this blog.  They are listed below by generation.  Just click on their name to go to their story.

Grandmothers:

Great-Grandmothers:

2nd Great-Grandmothers:
Anna Maria Heim Weiss

3rd and 4th Great-Grandmothers
Rebecca ‘Beckie’ Morgan Medlin
Sarah Gilbert Stewart



Using DNA to Help Find Women: 


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bravo🤗. I also think their stories should be told.

clm said...

Just noticed that the GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF PITTSBURGH is devoting a whole week of classes to researching the 'Hidden Half' of the family. The week long course is called "Women and Children First! Research Methods for the Hidden Half of the Family." (June 21-26, 2020 at LaRoche University) Sounds like they are going to have some very informative classes by great instructors.
https://www.gripitt.org/courses/women-and-children/

Susan West said...

Hey, Familytree magazine has a great article about searching for women in your family tree -- 7 Strategies for Finding Female Ancestors by Lisa Alzo.
https://www.familytreemagazine.com/female-ancestors/strategies-for-finding-female-ancestors/

Anonymous said...

What a great way to honor your female ancestors. Your collage is awesome. Makes me want to gather the photos of my female ancestors so I can make one.
Beth

clm said...

If you are related to any of the women on this blog, you are more than welcome to their photos from this blog to make a collage of your female ancestors.

Julie said...

It's so hard to find records for my female ancestors!! You have given me some good ideas. I like how DNA has helped to find missing women in your tree.

Rose said...

This was really interesting