Are Your Female Ancestors Eluding You? Are you having trouble tracing a female line? You are not alone. Looking for women requires a readjustment in how we view traditional genealogical record sources. Why? Because the legal status of women at any point in history is the key to unraveling the identity of the female ancestor. For example, when examining land records, researchers should look for dower releases when property was being sold and for marital agreements regarding a woman's land from a previous marriage. When dealing with probate or will records, look in wills of husbands, fathers, and brothers for references to marital status, number of living children, explanations of marital relationships, and so forth. If you're working with public welfare records, you may find references to women in pension applications, almshouse and poorhouse records, aid to the elderly and widows, etc. If you cannot find a certain female Chinese ancestor in the 1900 census, you may not have considered that, under the terms of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Chinese women were denied entry into the United States for a number of years. You'll discover hundreds of considerations for catching up with elusive female ancestors in Christina Schaefer's pioneering book, The Hidden Half of the Family. Mrs. Schaefer urges genealogists to look closely at those areas where the female ancestor interacts with the government and the legal system--where law, precedent, and even custom mandate the unequivocal identification of all parties, male and female. Mrs. Schaefer spells out the various legal categories of information relevant to women's genealogy at both the federal and state level, and furnishes a time line of important events in each state's history regarding women and the law. The bulk of the volume consists of a review of United States laws bearing on women's ancestry and a state-by-state breakdown of those statutes having the greatest import for finding women ancestors. In addition to the chronology, each state chapter contains notes on the periods of coverage and location of pertinent records, and a bibliography. If you are stymied by the missing women in your past, the best place to turn for solid advice is The Hidden Half of the Family. For more information, access the following URL: http://www.genealogical.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&item_number=5179

Doug, please accept my appreciation for having posted several quite useful genealogy items over the last several weeks. You have not only invigorated the board, but provided some very useful finding aids. Dennis Boswell -----Original Message----- From: msattala-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:msattala-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Douglas Cummins Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 11:55 AM To: MSATTALA@rootsweb.com Subject: [MSATTALA] Eluding Are Your Female Ancestors Eluding You? Are you having trouble tracing a female line? You are not alone. Looking for women requires a readjustment in how we view traditional genealogical record sources. Why? Because the legal status of women at any point in history is the key to unraveling the identity of the female ancestor. For example, when examining land records, researchers should look for dower releases when property was being sold and for marital agreements regarding a woman's land from a previous marriage. When dealing with probate or will records, look in wills of husbands, fathers, and brothers for references to marital status, number of living children, explanations of marital relationships, and so forth. If you're working with public welfare records, you may find references to women in pension applications, almshouse and poorhouse records, aid to the elderly and widows, etc. If you cannot find a certain female Chinese ancestor in the 1900 census, you may not have considered that, under the terms of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Chinese women were denied entry into the United States for a number of years. You'll discover hundreds of considerations for catching up with elusive female ancestors in Christina Schaefer's pioneering book, The Hidden Half of the Family. Mrs. Schaefer urges genealogists to look closely at those areas where the female ancestor interacts with the government and the legal system--where law, precedent, and even custom mandate the unequivocal identification of all parties, male and female. Mrs. Schaefer spells out the various legal categories of information relevant to women's genealogy at both the federal and state level, and furnishes a time line of important events in each state's history regarding women and the law. The bulk of the volume consists of a review of United States laws bearing on women's ancestry and a state-by-state breakdown of those statutes having the greatest import for finding women ancestors. In addition to the chronology, each state chapter contains notes on the periods of coverage and location of pertinent records, and a bibliography. If you are stymied by the missing women in your past, the best place to turn for solid advice is The Hidden Half of the Family. For more information, access the following URL: http://www.genealogical.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&item_number=517 9 ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MSATTALA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message