Finding female ancestors can be a challenge

Genealogy experts teach seminar in Sumner to offer tips on finding the maiden names of female ancestors

Last week’s seminar at Heritage Quest Research Library in Sumner focused on the art of finding female ancestors.

For a long time, women didn’t have the right to own land, run a business or write wills, so their records and maiden names are often a challenge to find, said Rachel Farley, library promotions coordinator.

“It’s a real detective game,” she said. “Finding female ancestors is probably the hardest part of genealogy. It adds a lot of complexity.”

Genealogy “celebrities” and Daughters of the American Revolution members Beverley Bills and Myra Vanderpool Gormley taught the two-hour seminar, providing tips and tricks on where to search and a history on women who served in the Revolutionary War.

Maiden names of women can be difficult to find, but there are a number of places to search that may yield results, Vanderpool Gormley said.

“Don’t give up — you may get lucky,” she said.

Places to look include census data, marriage certificates, birth certificates, death records, baptismal records, obituaries from the woman’s hometown newspaper, wills of her parents, land records, siblings’ marriage records, military files, published county histories, family histories, old diaries, postings on genealogy Web sites and even a simple Google search.

Though they sound obscure, land records often show the woman’s father’s name, Vanderpool Gormley said.

“Sometimes that’s the only way you’re going to figure it out,” she said.

Vanderpool Gormley also provided some tidbits to help researchers figure out where to look up records: Prior to World War I, most marriages took place in the bride’s home county, where she had relatives.

“Start on the local level,” she said.

Also, during that time most men married women within 30 miles of their homes, Vanderpool Gormley added.

“Probably it was the neighbor boy,” she joked.

Some precautions, though: Don’t assume all records are correct, and never assume a person had only one marriage, Vanderpool Gormley said. Be open-minded about spelling, which may have changed through the years. Be aware of naming practices. Try visiting graves to verify information.

Puyallup resident Gloria Manning liked how the seminar focused on working backward through the process, she said. Manning has been interested in genealogy for 10 or 12 years and said the seminar was a good refresher to remind people of the uncommon places to search.

“I think it was very interesting,” she said.

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HERITAGE QUEST RESEARCH LIBRARY

Heritage Quest Research Library offers genealogy resources, including books, microfilm, microfiche, periodicals, CDs and online databases.

> Hours: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays

> Address: 909 Main St., Suite 5, Sumner

> Phone: 253-863-1806

> Web site: www.hqrl.com