What’s in a Name?

The most challenging part of researching your female ancestors may be locating her maiden name. What was her name at birth? There are regions where your maiden name is always your legal name and it is not changed upon getting married. This is true for the province of Quebec in Canada. However, the most common practice in the past has been for women to take on their husband’s surname and pass it down to the next generation through their children. The maiden name is can be lost, especially if she moves away from the area of her birth. Even harder to track is when she becomes Mrs. John Smith, or even Mrs. J. Smith, in the records rather than using her full name. An interesting clue can be found in the naming tradition of passing the mother’s maiden surname down to her children as a middle name, or even as a first name. If you see a surname as a given name, seek out its origin. A word of caution: Do not assume that this will always lead to a direct ancestor. The name may have been given for another reason. This is for sure – this middle surname has a story. Do your research and find the origin. Create a list of Research Strategies. Census records may list a family member with a different surname. For example: the brother-in-law’s name is John Baker. Head of household’s wife’s maiden name MAY be Baker. Always seek documents to confirm your theory.…

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Researching HER Story

Our female ancestors often present many challenges in our research. They aren’t really hidden, but they can at times seem to be invisible in the documents. The Research: Grandmothers, Mothers & Daughters – Tracing Women  course offers Strategies and Guidelines to researching women’s history. Documenting the women in our tree may seem daunting, but she has left clues. You just need to uncover them. As with all research, we start with our Home Sources. What do we know and How do we know it? Many clues can be gleaned from Diaries, Journals and Letters. These are a wealth of information and provide a glimpse into your ancestors’ daily life. Heirlooms and Keepsakes are cherished family treasures. Do you know the stories behind them? Have you written it down so it will not be lost once you are gone? Clothing and Jewelry show her style. Have you found photos of her wearing those pieces? It is even better when we can tie them together with a story or their origin. Recipes and Traditions, especially around the holidays, have been passed from generation to generation. However, have they been written down? Do you know why certain food are prepared for specific holiday meals? Too many oral traditions have been lost once out of living memory. Ask elderly family members. What are their memories? How did they celebrate when they were children? For family recipes, be sure to record the recipes. A pinch of this and a dash of that – Have you tried to…

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Original Records for Mayflower Research: Probates

Probate Records  Probate records can provide important familial identifications. They can identify children and spouses, prove family relationships and provide approximate death dates. Probate records come in many forms including wills, codicils, inventories, accounts, receipts, settlements among heirs and guardianships of minor children. A person who dies testate left a will; a person who died intestate did not. Occasionally expediency determined that a person had to make a will in a hurry, and did not have time to write it down, stating his wishes to another party who would later relay his sentiments to the probate court; this is referred to as a nuncupative will. If the deceased did not name an executor (male) or executrix (female) to oversee the administration of his estate, the courts would have to appoint an administrator or administratrix who would be required to post a bond. What can wills tell us genealogically? They often named the children in order of birth. Children might be named in actual order of birth, or listed first by sons in their order of birth followed by the daughters in their order of birth. When birth records cannot be found it is often possible to construct approximate years of birth and family positioning based on the order of children in their parent’s will. What happens when a child is not mentioned in his father’s will or settlement? The most likely reason is that the child is deceased with no living issue. If a deceased child has left children, these…

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Periodicals & Journals for the Mayflower Researcher

Genealogical Publications  Genealogical publications can be extremely helpful in your family history research. Genealogical and historical journals provide us with the latest research on a particular family as well as providing corrections of long-ago errors. Journal articles also teach us proper methodology in compiling a genealogy, documenting our research, and citing our sources. How do you find journal articles of interest? PERSI, short for the Periodical Source Index is the largest subject index to all of the genealogical and historical periodical articles written since 1800 and was created by the staff of the genealogy department at the Allen County Public Library at Fort Wayne, Indiana. This index contains 2.7 million entries from thousands of publications. The articles are indexed according to family surname, locality, and research methodology. You can search PERSI at Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana or by searching it online through the subscription website Findmypast. There are certain genealogical journals which are more apt to print articles concerning Plymouth Colony and Mayflower research and thus are likely to be of benefit to you in tracing your Mayflower lines. They include: The Mayflower Descendant, published by the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, was begun in 1899 with George Ernest Bowman as editor until 1937. The Mayflower Descendant is a rich source of material that has aided the research of Mayflower genealogies and Bowman himself did more to advance this cause than any other researcher of his time. He was the pioneer in Mayflower genealogies; it is…

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Town Histories for Researching Mayflower Descendants

Town and County Histories Town and county histories often contain a great deal of genealogical data on its pioneers and early residents. As with family genealogies, search an online library catalog or digitized book website to see if a history has been written about the town where your ancestors resided. As you peruse these older town histories, be aware that they are known to contain errors, which can mean that the unsuspecting beginner then takes those errors and repeats them. The problem is not so much that errors are circulated (although it does get frustrating to see inaccurate statements made which were corrected in journals ten years ago!), but rather that the source was not cited with these errors which means that the next unsuspecting person who receives this lovely little error will not be able to evaluate its reliability… and so on… and before we know it, it is the error which stands out over and above the ten-year-old printed correction. So, while early town & county histories and family genealogies are susceptible to a high degree of error, some more so than others, as an authored source they are important, and as a source, it is important to cite them. When you cite this type of authored source, what does it tell you about your information? It tells you that you need to look further for verification. You have been given a clue, a starting place, and it is now your job to set out to prove the information…

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