Telling HerStory 2014: The Family Tree Problem Solver by Marsha Hoffman Rising

The Book:

The Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried-and-true Tactics for Tracing Elusive Ancestors by  Marsha Hoffman Rising. Cincinnati, Ohio: Family Tree Books, 2011.


What's it about:

There are a lot of genealogical how-to books out there. The Family Tree Problem Solver is, in my opinion, one of the best. It’s not aimed at the beginning genealogist simply because it strives to help people who currently have hit a brick wall in their research. Any genealogist who has some research and problem solving under their belt will benefit from the ideas in this book. More advanced genealogists can also benefit from chapters on problem solving and analysis, researching ancestors before 1850 and sorting through individuals with the same name.

This book, now in it’s 2nd edition, was originally written by genealogist Marsha Hoffman Rising who passed away in 2010. She was the author of many articles and works about Arkansas genealogy.  She worked as a professional genealogist for 25 years.


Why you should read it:

Whether you purchase a used copy of the 1st edition or buy the  2nd edition, your genealogy will benefit. The 2nd edition  includes updates on Internet genealogy, DNA and genealogical terms written by genealogists Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, Laureen Gamber and the editors of Family Tree Magazine respectively. This is the type of book that you do not have to read from cover to cover. You can choose sections that would best help you with your own genealogical problem and then go from there.

One of my favorite sections can be found in the chapter entitled The Critical Connection: Finding Ancestors who Lived before 1850, this chapter includes a list, Tenets for the Tenacious: Suggestions for discovering the origins of pioneer ancestors that outlines 15 steps for tracking these early ancestors.  This 15 step tip list is one that should be laminated and kept by every genealogist’s computer to help remind them of methodology when they hit the proverbial brick wall. Advice contained in this list includes focus on families, not surnames; search surrounding areas; and learn all you can about your ancestor and his community.

Your research will benefit from this book. Your work uncovering the stories of female ancestors will benefit from this book. Read this book!

Additional resources:

• Marsha Hoffman Rising and her work via Warren, Carmack & Associates

Telling HerStory 2014 Meets Church Record Sunday: Women and Religion

***Note from Gena: This post is an encore of one for Women's History Month 2013. It's an important work that I felt needed to be spotlighted again. Really one of the books to have to better understand female ancestors and religion.

Sometimes it can be helpful to sit back and read some history when you hit that genealogical brick wall. History and the sources historians use can provide you with insight, new methodologies, and resources.

Since we are looking at resources for researching women this month I wanted to share some a book title that might be helpful to your  research.

Women & Religion in America, Volume 1  deals with the 19th century. Essays in this volume include the topics of revivalism, Utopian movements, nuns in immigrant Catholicism, Jewish women, right to preach, lay women in Protestantism and social reform movements. A snippet view of the book is available at Google Books.

Volume 2 deals with the Colonial and Revolutionary periods. There is also an Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America by the same editors.

Tip: As you read non-fiction, make sure to go take a look at the end notes or footnotes and bibliography, making special note of resources that can help inform your own research.

Telling HerStory 2014: Pioneer Women by Joanna L. Stratton

The Book:

Pioneer Women. Voices from the Kansas Frontier by Joanna L. Stratton

What's it about:

Autobiographical accounts of eight hundred women. Here are stories of what it was like to be a pioneer including "prairie fires, locust plagues...the drama, danger and excitement of the pioneer experience."


Why you should read it:

In his Introduction to this book, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.  writes, "History is lived in the main by the unknown and forgotten. But historian perforce concentrate on the happy few who leave records, give speeches, write books, make fortunes, hold offices, win or lose battles and thrones...Modern social historians devise brand new techniques, quantitative and other, to achieve what Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie has called "the silent,  mathematical resurrection of a total past.""

That's genealogy, resurrecting the past of those who are unknown and forgotten. This book gives voice to some of those who would otherwise be relegated to the forgotten.

Don't forget to check out the Appendix for a list of those 800 women's names, their emigration date, age at emigration and the source for their story from the Kansas State Historical Society's Lilla Day Monroe Collection.

Additional resources:

• Lilla Day Monroe Collection

Telling HerStory 2014: Bold Spirit by Linda Lawrence Hunt

The Book:

Bold Spirit: Helga Estby’s Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America by Linda Lawrence Hunt


What's it about:

The author, Linda Lawrence Hunt, was introduced to the story of Helga Estby through a school child’s history essay about his ancestor. This is an incredible story of courage, adventure, shame and what happened to women who strayed out of their “proper” roles in  19^th century America. 

Helga and her daughter accept an offer from an unknown sponsor to walk across America with promises of a much needed cash reward. Part marketing ploy, these women set off only to find that things weren't as promised. This choice, one that she believes will benefit her family,  affects Helga’s life forever. The author used present-day interviews and newspapers to recreate Helga’s adventure. This work is a good combination of history and personal narrative. It’s a good reminder that our everyday ancestors did extraordinary things. 

Why you should read it:

Great example of taking newspapers and genealogy to tell the story of someone's life. I love this book. Great story and wonderful research. I also love that this is a story of a woman whose family almost successfully blotted out an aspect of her life forever. Her story was saved by a daughter in law.


Additional resources:

• HistoryLink.org: The Fee Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History - Helga Estby

Telling Herstory 2014: Good Wives by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

The Book:

Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England 1650-1750 by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich


What's it about:

"In these pages we encounter the awesome burdens-and the considerable power-of a New England's housewife's domestic life and witness her occasional forays into the world of men. We see her borrowing from neighbors, loving her husband, raising-and, all to often, mourning-her children, and even attaining fame as a heroine of frontier conflicts or notoriety as a murderess."


Why you should read it:

One of the aspect of Ulrich's books I love is the look at ordinary women's lives. She is essentially doing genealogy, but she is showing us how to find the history to do that genealogy. Consult her website Do History, link below, to get some ideas about methodology and resources.

Other books by Ulrich include A Midwife's Tale; Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History; The Age of Homespun; Yards and Gates; and New Year in Cuba.


Additional resources:

• Do History
• 15 Questions with Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Telling HerStory 2014: Annie's Ghosts by Steve Luxenberg

The Book:

Annie's Ghosts: A Journey into a Family Secret by Steve Luxenberg

What's it about:

One of my all-time favorite books is written by an editor for the Washington Post. He uses his reporting skills to seek out the truth about an aunt that he and his siblings never knew existed. His mother had successfully hid the secret of her sister all their lives. It’s only after her death that the aunt’s existence is revealed. Through his research he not only pieces together his aunt's life but becomes acquainted with a cousin and her Holocaust story.


Why you should read it:

This story is a must-read for all genealogists. Luxenberg tackles a difficult research problem, finding records for a person who lived a majority of her life in an institution, successfully. His experience as an investigative reporter assists him as he conducts "genealogical" research. All genealogists can find tips here to incorporate into their own research for 20th century family.

Seriously, this is a must-read. I personally own two copies of the book and find myself re-reading it (and I never re-read books).

If you ever have the chance to hear Steve speak, I highly recommend it.


Additional resources:

• Annie's Ghosts (the websites)

Telling HerStory 2014: Out-of-Style

The Book:

Out-of-Style. A Modern Perspective of How, Why and When Vintage Fashions Evolved by Betty Kreisel Shubert


What's it about:

Easy to understand reference book of fashion for the 19th and 20th centuries. Includes illustrations from the author and commentary about what was worn and why. The author designed clothes and costumes for the entertainment industry and illustrates the book. Great for understanding fashion in photos or just for some social history background.


Why you should read it:

I've been interested in this book ever since I read a blog post by my friend Denise Levenick, The Family Curator, where she invited the author to tell her more about a photo of her grandmother. I have really enjoyed reading more about fashion from someone who was not only in the business but who writes in a friendly, approachable way. Betty understands the needs of family history researchers as she wrote a column for Ancestry magazine. Don't just read this to better understand photos you may have. Read this to better understand your ancestor's life.



Additional resources:

• Out-of-Style (the website)

Press Release about Out-of-Style:

Coveted by Genealogists and Fashionistas alike “Out-of-Style” Named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2013

Hollywood Costume Designer Turned Fashion Historian, Betty Kreisel Shubert Shares Her Modern Perspective on How Vintage Fashions Evolved 

(LOS ANGELES) February 6, 2014 - Out-of-Style A Modern Perspective of How, Why and When Vintage Fashions Evolved, written and illustrated by Betty Kreisel Shubert, has been named to the prestigious Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2013 list in the Indie Books category. As a Hollywood costume designer turned fashion historian and Ancestry Magazine columnist and illustrator, Shubert brings her extensive experience to shed a fresh perspective on the evolution of vintage fashions, creating an insightful and fascinating read making time-dating old photos and vintage fashions easy.

“The author’s deep knowledge of fashion, the book’s greatest strength, is evident in her cataloging of a broad range of men’s, women’s and children’s styles,” says Kirkus.

Out-of-Style, published by Flashback Publishing, features over 700 of Shubert’s own sequential illustrations that reveal the style clues that date clothes worn by men, women and children in 19th through 20th centuries and beyond.   Throughout her book, Shubert includes fascinating gems of social history from countless sources in order to illuminate the life and times of our ancestors.

“You have done a masterful job of defining your subject and your expertise in this field is unique… Your book promises to be a wonderful help to genealogist researchers everywhere. With great admiration for you,” says Ancestry.com Executive Editor and V.P. Community Relations, Loretto (Lou) Szucs.

As a columnist for Ancestry Magazine, Shubert’s ground-breaking book was inspired by the need of genealogists to time-date old family photographs by illustrating the sequential style clues that place clothes, and therefore people in their own time frame.

“I have bought numerous history of costume books, but none of them tell me what I need to know in a manner I can easily access, absorb and utilize... Your book is so easy to understand, I want to be the first to endorse it!” says the late Caroline Rober, past president of the Southern California Association of Professional Genealogists.

Shubert’s encyclopedia-like history book is also sought after to inform the research needs of costume designers, theater companies, social historians and vintage collectors who require authenticity to costume specific time periods.

“This broad compilation of evolving fashion...makes for a valuable addition to any reference collection,” says Kirkus.

Kirkus Reviews is distributed to more than 5,000 industry influencers and reviews more than 8,000 books, selecting only 100 for its Best Books list. Because of the scope of their coverage, authoritative voice and the timeliness of their reviews, Kirkus Reviews is revered by many as the first indicator of a book’s potential. Read more: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/betty-kreisel-shubert/out-of-style/

Out-of-Style is available for purchase through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Ingram and local book retailers.  It has been added to all campus libraries at the prestigious FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising) and the Ringling College of Art and Design for their film program.

“It truly is an honor to be recognized by Kirkus Reviews,” says Shubert.  “I wish this book had been available to me as a young costume design student and later as a working professional.”

Available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/OUT-STYLE-Perspective-Vintage-Fashions/dp/098357619X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

Media Contact: Nadine Jolson, Jolson Creative PR Group jolsoncreativePR@mac.com 310-614-3214 direct

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About Out-of-Style: Out-of-Style A Modern Perspective of How, Why and When Vintage Fashions Evolved, by Betty Kreisel Shubert and published by Flashback Publishing, provides a fresh perspective on the evolution of vintage fashions and features over 700 of Shubert’s own sequential illustrations  that reveal the style clues that date clothes worn by men, women and children in 19th through 20th centuries and beyond.  Gems of social history illuminate the life and times of our ancestors. www.outofstylethebook.com/

About the author: Betty Kreisel Shubert has designed clothes and costumes for stage, screen, television specials, ready-to-wear, Las Vegas musicals, and Disneyland. She has designed the uniform programs for major cruise lines, race tracks, and for hotels, restaurants and casinos all over the world. As a regular columnist for Ancestry Magazine, Betty wrote and illustrated a column for genealogists entitled “Out-of-Style.”
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/OutOfStyleTheBookByBettyKreiselShubert