DISCOVERING YOUR FEMALE ANCESTORS

by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.

"It is inexcusable how our women ancestors have been overlooked in our genealogies -- deprived of the narratives that tell about their lives. Half of all our ancestors were women,'' says Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, a certified genealogical record specialist, author and columnist for Reunions magazine.

While this neglect is somewhat understandable in the majority of family histories because in researching females, we have to deal with name changes and the fact that many of our women ancestors did not leave much of a record of themselves, especially when you consider they have been treated throughout most of history like children, with few legal rights. Most published genealogies contain only a tiny bit of information about the mothers and sisters of a family. Many include only scraps of data, such as: "Mary (--¿--) (indicating her maiden name is unknown) Smith was born about 1825, probably in Ohio. She died about 1873 in Missouri.''

Tracing the lives of our female ancestors is a challenge, but with the help of A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Female Ancestors, Carmack's new book, you will learn how to uncover hard-to-find information. This is not a beginner's guide to genealogical research methods; it is geared toward more experienced family historians.

This timely and much-needed guidebook provides special strategies and uncommon resources that you might not have considered. You'll learn to conduct research on many levels, going beyond names and dates to discover who your foremothers were as people and how the events of history affected their lives. Discover how to:

-- Utilize several proven methods for determining maiden names and parental lineage.

-- Study diaries, journals and letters left by your female ancestors and the people close to them to gain additional insight on their everyday lives.

-- Access official documents, such as church records, census rolls, and court records, to pinpoint facts about each woman's existence.

-- Find sources of information unique to women of various ethnic origins.

-- Direct your research using this guide's overview of women's legal rights in America -- with details on voting, inheritance, divorce and more.

This comprehensive guide also includes a glossary of terms specific to researching females, a source checklist, a fascinating case study, and a detailed bibliography with more than 200 sources.

An important and crucial source in genealogical research on your female ancestors is women's social history. Besides helping you to understand your ancestors' actions and motivations, social history will augment and supplement what you find in the historical documents on your women. It can also fill the gaps left by records or where there are no records of your female ancestors.

Instead of the highlights of her life being the days she was born, married and died, social history research, combined with genealogical research, will enable you to write biographies about your female ancestors. Carmack's outstanding guide will teach you how. These ordinary, everyday women -- our ancestors -- led fascinating lives. Learn how they became the women they were, and how they shaped your life in the process.

A Genealogist's Guide to Discovering Your Female Ancestors, by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, is published by Betterway Books, 1507 Dana Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45207, and is available from the publisher and in book stores throughout the country. It retails for $17.99.

(c) 1998, Los Angeles Times Syndicate