Hidden Treasures: Searching for the Female Side of the Family

Finding out information about female forbears can be difficult. We know they existed or else we wouldn’t be here but often details about them are scarce. How they lived, where they came from and even the name they were born with are often missing from the record, especially in the days before civil registration. I have many questions about the women in my lineage. 

In the early days of my research, when I tried to take my genealogical links back through the generations with records of births and marriages, it was often the attempt to get the maternal line back further that ended in a brick wall. Now when I am at the stage of filling out the stories in my initial genealogical outline, it is often the records left by my female ancestors that provide the most compelling stories. Compelling because, if I am able to find written documents, they not only fill in details about my female forbear, but usually provide information about her family and details about their lives. 

My research has unearthed a number of interesting documents from and about my female ancestors. In the next series of posts, I will explore what those records can tell me about my ancestors and their lives.