Women's History Month 2018: Cemetery Records

Extant cemetery records differ depending on a number of factors. Today, many genealogists rely on websites to provide photos of a tombstone but depending on the type of cemetery and whether it is still active, more records could exist.

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

There are different types of cemeteries. It's important to know the types because that can be a clue to what records could exist. They include:

• Church Cemetery
• Public Cemetery
• Customary Cemetery
• Private Cemetery 
• Lodge Cemetery
• Ethnic Cemetery
• Family Cemetery
• Veterans Cemetery
• Mass Grave

In some cases a cemetery may have sextant records which could range from an index entry, an index card with burial information, or a record with data gleaned from family, the funeral home, or the death certificate.  

Having written a book about cemeteries, I'm always amazed when we can find the grave marker for an ancestor. Not all markers stand the test of time. Some graves never get marked, which happens if there is no money for a stone or if someone has outlived other close family members. If the grave was marked with a wood marker, that marker would have deteriorated over time. If there was any metal in the marker, there's a chance that it was stolen by those looking to make some money from the metal inserts. Sometimes markers are stolen by people for whatever reason. In the case of a female ancestor in my family, her marker simply is gone. When asked about its location at the cemetery office, I was told that "those people died a long time ago and no one paid to have their graves kept up" (endowment care).  That was for someone who died in the early 20th century.

My ancestor's final resting place includes burials that are now under a golf course and my favorite, under a rising river. So it's not surprising when we can't find burials.

A cemetery record. From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

So here are my recommendations:

• It's fine to start with websites for possible photos of a marker but don't stop there. Websites to check include: FindAGrave, Billion Graves, Interment.net, and the US GenWeb Cemetery Transcription Project.
• Search the FamilySearch Catalog for the city your ancestor lived and then click on the subject Cemeteries to find transcriptions of cemeteries.
• Search PERSI for cemetery transcriptions. PERSI is found on Findmypast.
• Check old Plat maps. They show cemeteries.
• Ask locals. They may know of a cemetery on a person's land that might not be obvious from cemetery listings.
• Know the history. For example, San Francisco has only a few cemeteries because the burials were  moved to Colma in the early 20th century so that the dead didn't take up valuable real estate. Knowing the history of a place can prevent frustration over not finding what you think should be there.

If the area's death certificates are online via FamilySearch or other websites, look through those around the time of your ancestor's death. Notice the burial information. That might help to understand where people were buried during that time. 

Lastly, don't forget the newspaper. Remember that it's more than an obituary search, especially if she lived in a small town. Researching a death means searching for the obituary but look in the days prior to that for mentions of an illness, accident, or crime that resulted in the death. After the obituary you might find a legal notice for a probate action. 

Resources
The Ancestor Hunt
MySendOff - The 15 Types of Cemeteries

Women's History Month 2018: Death Certificate Alternatives

Gena Philibert-Ortega

She was only 5 years old when she died. Scarlet Fever took her. She didn't live long enough to leave much of a paper trail. But it's in an uncle's family Bible that she is immortalized, thankfully, because death certificates didn't exist for the place she died in 1900. On the Bible page she is listed above her paternal grandmother who died two years later, having lived a much longer life but also dying without benefit of a death certificate.

And while it's a home source that records these women's deaths, it wasn't my home source so it took some networking, visiting, discussing and years before I saw it. Sometimes a "home" source is hidden away with a relative that you don't know or have little contact with. Sometimes it can be found on an auction website like eBay.

So a death certificate doesn't exist for everyone. So, what now? It really depends on the time and place. But alternatives to vital records can be found housed on websites, archives, and other repositories. And while not all of them are a "perfect" or a preferred source (think original record with primary information) they may have enough information that can get you started finding her death date.

So what could you look for? Consider the following:

• Newspapers (legal notices, obits, funeral home notices, etc)
• Scrapbooks (remember her FAN Club)
• Correspondence
• Family Bible
• Funeral Cards
• Funeral Home Records
• Cemetery Records
• Grave Marker
• Cemetery Transcription Lists
• Cemetery Websites
• Pension Records
• Membership Organization Records
• Church Records
• Church Publications (magazine, newspaper, program/bulletin)
• Social Security Death Index
• County or Local History
• US Census Mortality Schedule

Also, remember that her FAN Club needs to be considered as well. Her death may be mentioned by a friend, cousin, or co-worker.

Research is an on-going process and it can last for years with little "luck." But the key is knowing where to look to ensure you leave no stone uncovered.

Resources
eBay
ArchiveGrid

FamilySearch Catalog

Women's History Month 2018: Death Certificates

from the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

Throughout  this month we've looked at various (but not all) documents that can record your female ancestor's life. As we approach the last days of the month, it seems fitting to focus on records that document the end of her life.

Today's document is an obvious one. Death certificates provide us such detail as name, address, parents' names, cause of death, and burial place. But they are not without their problems.

First, a death certificate includes primary and secondary information. The information about the death is primary and supplied by the attending physician or other medical personnel. It's not perfect and obviously it can include errors but it is the primary information on the death certificate. 

Personal information on a death certificate such as age, birth date, and parents' names can also be prone to error. Even a close family member can provide incorrect information due to the stress of the death or  simply because they don't know. It's on death certificates that we see mother's names listed as "unknown" or as in the above example from my 2nd great-grandmother, her mother is listed as "Elizabeth?"

The other problem is that deaths are not consistently recorded by states over time. Each state or even county started issuing death certificates at various times in history. And in the beginning of that state's vital record registration, it may be inconsistent. Add to that the fact that they may not be available to researchers due to privacy restrictions and death certificates might not be the easiest record to access. 

We'll talk more about death certificate alternatives tomorrow. But for today,  make note of which death certificates you still need for the women in your family tree.

Resources
Eichholz, Alice. Red Book: American State, County & Town Sources. Provo, Utah: Ancestry, 2004.

GenealogyBank Blog - Genealogy 101-#5 Death Certificates

Women's History Month 2018: Homesteads

Mary J. Hainsworth Widow of Thomas Hainsworth Homestead Record via Ancestry

...in 1862, the Homestead Act was passed and signed into law. The new law established a three-fold homestead acquisition process: filing an application, improving the land, and filing for deed of title. Any U.S. citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. Government could file an application and lay claim to 160 acres of surveyed Government land. For the next 5 years, the homesteader had to live on the land and improve it by building a 12-by-14 dwelling and growing crops. After 5 years, the homesteader could file for his patent (or deed of title) by submitting proof of residency and the required improvements to a local land office.*

In 1862, the US Federal Government made it possible for any US citizen (as long as you had not borne arms against the government) to own a piece of land. Men as well as women seized on this opportunity. Now, of course, there were further restrictions on women. Single women could take advantage of this but those who were married, had to be the head of their household. The Encyclopedia of the Great Plains states, "The majority of homesteading women were young (at least twenty-one), single, and interested in adventure and the possibility of economic gain." But remember when thinking of possible female ancestors that could have homesteaded, "single" doesn't necessarily mean "never been married." It might mean they were widowed, divorced, or even had a husband who deserted them.

What can these records hold? They hold information about the land via the application but they can also include a certificate of citizenship, clues to familial relationships, affidavits, testimonies, and more. One homestead file I was looking at on Ancestry.com was 118 pages and started out as husband's homestead claim but then when he died his wife took it over. A goldmine of information is in those pages for anyone studying that family.

I'm amazed at how much these files can tell us. Everything from personal details about a person, to familial relationships, to information provided by friends and neighbors.

Homestead entries via FamilySearch**

Ancestry.com has a U.S., Homestead Records, 1863-1908 collection. This collection only includes Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Utah, and Wyoming. For other states you must research the original records held by National Archives. Some homestead records can also be found by searching the FamilySearch Catalog for the keyword phrase "homestead records."


Resources

WyoHistory.org - Elinore Pruitt Stewart, Writer and Homesteader
Legacy Webinars - Gail Blankenau - Women Homesteaders and Genealogy
Google Books - Women Homestead History (search)
Ancestry.com Blog - First Woman Homesteader Found...


*The National Archives - The Homestead Act of 1862

**Image source: Montana, Flathead County, homestead records. Registers of homestead entries, v. 1, 1897-1908
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9Y8-LHWM?i=5&cat=2526475

Women's History Month 2018: Mother's Pensions

Clark County, Idaho Mothers Pension booik via FamilySearch

How to deal with the poor and those left poor due to the absence of a father in the home has been a question raised throughout history. The support of a child with an unknown or yet to be named father was addressed in my previous post on bastardy bonds. Today, I want to look at one other remedy that we see in the early 20th century, Mother's Pensions.

According to Linda Gordon in her book, Pitied But Not Entitled. Single Mothers and the History of Welfare 1890-1935 (1994), the "problem" of single mothers has been an issue the public has been concerned with for over a century. While today we have welfare programs, after 1910 (1910-1920) most states passed mothers' aid programs which were also referred to as "mothers' pensions" and "widows' pensions" {28}. The women who this affected were single mothers, due to such events as a man's desertion, death or a divorce.

What does this mean for family historians? Records. First, you may want to check out the Mothers' Pensions Project website where you can find an historical map and some information by state (though not complete). Next, go to FamilySearch and conduct a Keyword search in the Catalog for Mothers Pension (please note that in the Catalog they are also listed as Mother's Pensions). States represented in the FamilySearch collection include Idaho, Illinois, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington. Court records found at a court or at a county archive may also hold these records.

Clark County, Idaho Mothers Pension via FamilySearch

These records contain information about the woman, her children, her husband or the father of the children, and possibly property owned.


Resources

Encyclopedia of Chicago - Mothers' Pensions
The Legal Genealogist - The mothers' pension laws


image citation: "Idaho, Clark County Records, 1884-1998," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:2:77TC-DKSM?cc=1920125&wc=M6P8-M68%3A213071601%2C213277601 : 20 May 2014), Probate records > Mothers Pension, vol. 1, 1918-1932 > image 60 of 77; Clark County Clerk's Office, Dubois.

Women's History Month 2018: Repatriations

Repatriations from San Bernardino, California. (c) Gena Philibert-Ortega.

American women's repatriations is a research topic that I am passionate about. It's one that has led me to NARA regional offices, county archives, and other repositories. It's the topic that I research, read about, and question the most. There was a time where American women were stripped of what little citizenship rights they had, simply because of who they chose to marry. Their stories are the ones I want to uncover. 

First, let's address the subject of women's citizenship.

Prior to 1922, you are less likely to find naturalization papers for a female ancestor because of derivative citizenship. The idea was that a non-citizen woman  who married a US citizen, received citizenship as a result of that marriage. If her husband was not a citizen but naturalized during their marriage, she was included in that naturalization. From 1855 to 1922 immigrant women who married American citizens became American citizens. But in 1907, The Expatriation Act stated that derivative citizenship would not only affect the immigrant woman but also the woman who was an American citizen by birth. This meant that American women who married a non-US citizen lost her US citizenship.

Where did this come from? Well, in 1915 the Supreme Court ruled that "marriage of an American woman with a foreigner is tantamount to voluntary expatriatism." American women who would marry foreign men and retain their citizenship "would allow them to aid or protect German spies." *

How many women did this law affect?  A precise number is not known but according to Ann Marie Nicolosi’s article, We Do Not Want Our Girls to Marry Foreigners: Gender, Race, and American Citizenship, a look at the 1920 U.S. Census suggests that around eighty-nine out of a thousand children were born to American mothers and foreign born men. In the 1910 census, nearly six million children had one native born parent and one foreign born parent.

Some of this changes with the passage of the Cable Act in 1922. The  Cable Act signaled the end of women’s derivative citizenship and gave women the right to apply for their own naturalization. The Cable Act, also known as the Married Women’s Independent Nationality Act was a start but it would still take additional legislation before all women who had lost their citizenship could be repatriated. 

Initially, the Cable Act allowed women who lost their citizenship to go through the naturalization process just as if they were never US citizens. However, this did not include all women. Women who had married men ineligible for citizenship, were still not allowed to apply for citizenship. It would not be until 

1936 that women were finally allowed to forgo the lengthy naturalization process and repatriate by taking an oath of allegiance if and only if their husbands were dead or they had divorced. Four years later, in 1940, women could repatriate no matter what their current marital status. I can tell you from my own research that women were still repatriating well into the 1970s.

A 1939 repatriation from San Bernardino, California. (c) Gena Philibert-Ortega.

So what records did this leave behind? Your affected female ancestor may have left behind a naturalization record or an allegiance form (complete with a form that lists birth place and date,  her marriage date and spouse's name). 

Did all of the women take steps to regain their citizenship? I now at least in the case of one woman I know about, she never did. Possibly she didn't know she lost her citizenship or maybe she didn't care to go through the process. 

Once again, knowing about the history of the time makes a difference when we research women's lives.

References

Christina K. Schaefer, The Hidden Half of the Family: A Sourcebook for Women’s Genealogy.

When Saying I Do Meant Giving Up Your US Citizenship by Meg Hacker. Prologue Magazine. (PDF)

* “9 Facts about Jeanette Rankin, the First Woman elected to Congress,” Mental Floss 

Women's History Month 2018: Divorce Records

Janesville Daily Gazette (Wisconsin). 26 June 1891

I'll never forget my first introduction to an ancestor's divorce. I was in Texas, researching my dad's paternal line. One of the couples married prior to 1850 and then all of the sudden she's married to someone else and we can't find what happened to her first husband, our ancestor. My cousin and I are researching at the courthouse and I say to her "I'm going to go check the index to see if they were divorced."

She then gives me the "are you crazy" look.

She tells me there's no way this couple is divorced because after all, people didn't do that in the "good ole' days." She tells me that he probably just died, or went off to war, or something.

Well you can probably guess what happened next. I went, looked at the index and discovered that they did, indeed divorce.

I'm going to let you in on a secret.

People have always hated their spouses, that's not a new thing.

So sometimes when a woman says she is a widow, she's really divorced. Sometimes when she has a new husband, it's because she kicked the old husband to the curb. And sometimes when a man ended up in a new place without his family, it's because he simply left (maybe without obtaining a divorce).

Now obviously the dissolution of a marriage by legal means is different depending on the state and the time period. So you need to learn what the law was where your ancestor lived.

The reasons why people divorced are the same reasons as today.

Abuse, drunkedness, desertion, and illicit liaisons are just some of the reasons for a dissolved marriage.

As genealogists we sometimes make assumptions about people’s lives based on our own experiences. In historical research, you cannot do that. People’s lives are influenced by the time period they live in, social moirés, laws, beliefs and more. However, the human condition is fairly consistent. Some people have always hated their spouses, or were abused by them,  found out they were bigamists or for some other  reason it became vital to sever the relationship. Married life wasn’t perfect in then or now.

Let's take another look at Texas. My ancestress was actually mentioned in a book about her area of Texas in a chapter about the women who divorced there. Los Brazos De Dios: A Plantation Society in Texas Borderlands 1821-1865 by Sean M. Kelley 

Kelley writes in his book that mid-nineteenth century Texas had liberal divorce laws and that while other southern states allowed divorce through an act of state legislature, Texas heard divorce cases through the county district courts (Kelley, 69). 

Yes, being divorced may have been a social stigma when you were growing up but guess what,  even in colonial times people were getting divorced according to Glenda Riley’s book Divorce: An American Tradition. She writes that the first divorce in America was in  1639 and was granted on the grounds of bigamy (Riley, 12).

Why are divorce records important for the genealogist?  Well, aside from providing some information about your ancestor’s marriage and its dissolution, custody of minor children and division of property can provide you with clues to what the couple’s life was prior to and after the divorce.  In the case of my ancestor, the husband was awarded some property he owned  when they lived in Alabama. That helped lead me to additional records.

The reasons for the divorce can also provide a glimpse into the lives of your ancestor. So, for example, if the divorce is due to bigamy then that would lead you to other marriage records. A divorce due to adultery might lead to records of other children resulting from the adulterous relationship.

So for our purposes here, we want to explore where the records can be found. While my ancestor’s 1850 divorce records were found in a Texas courthouse not all divorce records will be found that way. As mentioned above, in some cases divorces were handled through the state legislature, an important consideration when looking for divorce records. If not at a county court or county archive, check a state archive.

One of the first online places that you should consult in your search for divorce records is the FamilySearch Catalog.  Conducting a search on the keyword “divorce” brings up over 5,000 resources. It can be helpful to consult the FamilySearch Wiki  for the state you are researching to learn more about the history of divorce records for that state and where to search for the records.  

Newspapers might provide information about a divorce. In one instance I was able to find a mention of a divorce proceeding form the 1940s while searching Google News Archive. This notice in the Public Notices section notified the other party to the divorce, she was not living in the same state, that an action was before the court. Other types of articles about a person’s divorce might also exist. Digitized newspaper websites allow a researcher an easier way to search multiple newspapers and years. 

Of course there are divorce records online. However, it’s important to remember that most of these resources are of a more recent nature.  Some examples include the California Divorce Index, 1966-1984 and the Texas Divorce Index, 1968-2002 available on  Ancestry.com.

When researching your ancestors, put aside your assumptions about history and consider all possibilities when you find that an ancestor’s spouse is suddenly missing. A reasonably exhaustive search of extant records can help you solve the mysteries of your ancestor’s less than happy married life.

Resources

Legacy Webinars - D-I-V-O-R-C-E by Judy Russell. 

Women's History Month 2018: Feme Sole Traders

Special thanks to Tammy Hepps for images. 

I love records that aren't as well known and that surprise us with the information they provide about women's lives. Such is the case with records documenting a woman's  Feme Sole Trader status.

First, what does Feme (or Femme) sole trader mean?

According to the dictionary it means:  a married woman who is entitled to carry on business on her own account and responsibility, independently of her husband. She could also be referred to as a Feme sole merchant.

The term Feme sole means that a woman is acting alone so that dictionary definition of a feme sole trader makes sense in context to a married woman acting independently. Now this is remarkable if we look at some of the dates these records cover, centuries when women were bound by laws that gave her husband the power over property and earnings.

Thanks to Tammy Hepps for images.

Judy Russell writes in the Legal Genealogist about a California case in 1850 where a woman received feme sole trader status but that it wasn't easy. She writes that the woman's intention had to be published in the newspaper repeatedly, she had to go to court, she also had to agree to support herself and her children.*

The South Carolina Encyclopedia states that femme sole trader statutes begin appearing there in the early 1700s. It notes,

"Because the activities of a feme sole trader could deprive the husband of services that marriage entitled him to, his consent was required, as was his agreement not to meddle in her business dealings. Although registration was not required, more than six hundred deeds or contracts conveying feme sole trader status were registered between 1754 and 1824. It is unknown how many other women operated taverns, inns, or boardinghouses; kept shops; ran bakeries; sold liquor, provisions, dry goods, poultry, livestock, and other farm commodities; and engaged in other suitable female employments with only the tacit consent of their husbands."

Apparently some women received feme sole trader status in cases where the couple was separated, which means you may want to look for additional records.**

If your ancestor lived in a state that granted feme sole status, this could be a great place to search for a female ancestor who ran a business or worked.


Resources
Thought Co - Feme Sole

Parramore, Mary R. "For Her Sole and Separate Use": Feme Sole Trader Status in Early South Carolina. Thesis University of South Carolina, 1991.

The Legal Genealogist - The Women of Sacramento County

* The Legal Genealogist - California's Sole Traders
**South Carolina Encyclopedia - Feme Sole Traders

Women's History Month 2018: Passports

I remember a long time ago seeing the movie Breaking Away, a male teenage coming of age story that involves bicycle racing. There's a scene where the mother tells her son how she has a passport, even though she has never gone out of the country, because that way she is always prepared to travel in case the opportunity arises.* This isn't just a "modern" idea. Our ancestors also traveled and may have applied for a passport. It's another record set that might help you find a female ancestor.

Passports are federal records and as such the National Archives is a great place to learn more.

"The Department of State has issued passports to American citizens traveling abroad since 1789, but did not have sole authority to do so until August 23, 1856, when Congress passed an act (11 Stat. 60) prohibiting other governmental entities, such as state and judicial authorities, from issuing passports."

"Foreign travel in the nineteenth century was much more frequent than one might expect. Overseas travelers included businessmen, the middle class, and naturalized U.S. citizens who returned to their homelands to visit relatives. For example, statistics show that the State Department issued 130,360 passports between 1810 and 1873, more than 369,844 between 1877 and 1909, and more than 1,184,085 between 1912 and 1925."**

Do those numbers surprise you? They surprised me but they are numbers I am grateful for because they mean one more possible place to find a female ancestor or one of her family members (remember, we need to extend our search to include her FAN Club).

Now, it's probably also important to remember that you didn't need a passport for every foreign country. I have American citizen ancestors who lived in Mexico during the early 20th century, but they didn't need a passport. US citizens needing a passport for travel to Mexico or Canada  is a more recent law. And you didn't always need a passport to travel abroad. To learn more about passports and when they were required see the National Archive's web page on Passport Applications.

Where, besides NARA, can you find passport applications? One place is  Ancestry.com and their database, U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925. Additional places are listed below.


Resources

Ancestry.com - U.S. Consular Posts, Emergency Passport Applications, 1915-1926

FamilySearch Wiki -United States Passports

FamilySearch - United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925

Department of State - Get Copies of Passport Records (after 1925)


* I'm obviously paraphrasing since I don't remember the actual lines but I remember the sentiment which I wholeheartedly agree with.

**National Archives -  Passport Applications

Image citation: "United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVJP-3BMN : 16 March 2018), Nellie Bly, 1915; citing Passport Application, Austria, source certificate #1250, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 540, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

Women's History Month 2018: A P.S. to Asylums and Mental Hospitals

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

Yesterday's post resulted in some great discussion on my Facebook and Twitter feeds as well as a few private messages. Researchers shared their stories of their female ancestor committed to an asylum. One theme they reiterated was the problem of telling an family history story when few records exist.

Because I do believe in the importance of telling these stories, I think it's important that we go beyond just the possible hospital records that may or may not exist or that we are not allowed access to.

Two stories to illustrate this.

Yesterday, I relayed the story of a cousin whose grandmother was institutionalized. The hospital in question would not even acknowledge where their cemetery was (the grandmother was buried there). My cousin was a tenacious researcher. She went and talked to a hospital janitor who helped her find the largely unmarked burial ground. Because she herself was under a psychiatrist's care, she was able to get the medical records with that Dr.'s help. Even though it was about 50 years later, she walked her grandmother's old neighborhood (where she lived with her kids before being institutionalized) and asked people if they knew the family. She was able to learn new clues from that.

Many years ago, when I was researching for a client whose ancestor was institutionalized, I called the facility's medical records department. While I nor the family could get access to these records I did learn two important things. One, was if the patient died and the family didn't claim them for burial, their body was sent to a local teaching hospital and then later cremated and scattered by that facility (so no burial records except for a log at the hospital that was not widely known about). This helped me piece together some of the facts about the death I was researching. (Now this wasn't true for all facilities, many had a cemetery on the grounds.) Second, she told me that they no longer kept more than 1 page or so from the older files but she had, obviously, knowledge of these files and she was shocked how many husbands had committed their wives for reasons that today would have nothing to do with mental health.

As you think about your ancestor, think outside of the box. Seek records that might include:

• Histories of the facility
• Reports about the facility (might be kept in a state archive or university)
• Academic articles about the facility, treatments, or women institutionalized
• Books about women held in asylums
• Records at a state archive that might include admission logs
• Home sources (correspondence, receipts)

So what I'm saying is to do a bunch of catalog searches in WorldCat, ArchiveGrid, Google Scholar, and JSTOR. And try some Google searches as well. Be creative and tell yourself that you are studying women who were institutionalized in [fill in the decade/s] in [county, state or facility name].

When we are unable to find records, that's not the time to stop. Find out all you can about the place and what life was like and that will also help you tell the story.

Oh, and this is true for other types of institutions as well such as almshouses or poor farms.

Resources
Mad Literature: Insane Asylums in Nineteenth Century America by Emily Clark.

National Archives - State Archives

Digital Public Library of America

Women's History Month 2018: Hospital Commitment and Related Records

Used with permission of Gary W. Clark.

One place that researchers find female ancestors is the "insane asylum." 19th century women found themselves committed, often by male family members, for a variety of reasons that today would be seen as "normal." In some cases the committal could be because of reasons we today would recognize as  medical issues like postpartum depression or non-medical issues such as not living up to societal expectations. Continuing into the 20th century, you may find a female ancestor (and yes, a male ancestor as well) spending their last years in a state mental hospital due to dementia or the inability to take care of themselves as they age.

One of my cousins had a grandmother who was admitted to an asylum because she was suffering from some medical problems and was deemed "crazy" because she was a non-English speaking immigrant (apparently no one around her spoke her Eastern European dialect). As mentioned before, an ancestor could also be committed because of the effects of growing older and having no one to care for her like in the case of a great-great-grandmother of mine who found herself committed during the World War II years because she was a 78-year-old woman with "senility." Yes, she had family but for whatever reasons, most likely because they didn't live near her,  committal to a state hospital was chosen. This was a choice in  a time when modern-day rest home or convalescent facilities didn't exist.

"By the middle of the century [19th], women outnumbered men in asylums...Women were the majority of inmates for several reasons: middle-class norms were extremely important in defining the sane and insane; women had few rights when it came to confinement laws; women were rarely allowed to testify in court; and women's reproductive organs were seen as a cause of insanity."*

Tracking down the records for a female ancestor who was declared insane and committed can be difficult at best depending on the place. It's important to remember that several different types of records might exist. mental hospital or "asylum" records themselves might be off limits due to HIPAA laws. Don't forget to looks for court records that might include hearings that led to her committal to a facility. I found my ancestor mentioned in an admitting record that was stored at the state archive. The state archive is a great place to search for records having to do with the hospital where your ancestor lived. I've also seen women's committals mentioned in newspaper articles.

To learn more about asylums and women's experiences in mental hospitals, check out academic articles in JSTOR.


Resources

Annie's Ghosts by Steve Luxenberg

GenealogyBank Blog - Researching Ancestors Who Were Committed to Asylums, Using Old Newspapers

Lunacy in the 19th Century: Women’s Admission to Asylums in United States
of America by Katherine Pouba and Ashley Tianen.

*Insanity, Rhetoric, and Women: Nineteenth-Century Women's Asylum Narratives. A Dissertation by Madaline Reeder Walter (2011).Page 7.


Special thanks to Gary W. Clark of PhotoTree who shared with me his great-aunt's committal documents. He wrote her story in a book titled, Cruel Irony available on his PhotoTree.com website.

Women's History Month 2018: Bastardy Bonds

Sure, we tend to think that the "right" order of things in regards to our ancestor's intimate relationships is that a couple falls in love, marries and then has children. But life is not always so orderly for any number of reasons.

Delaware Public Archives.  https://archives.delaware.gov/100/wearelivingandlearning/Taking_Responsibility.shtml

Communities have always felt the need to ensure that they are not stuck with paying the bill for those living in poverty. In an earlier time, a woman with a child but no husband might be at risk for living in poverty.

And so we have bastardy bonds.

I probably don't need to explain what the term "bastard" means. But you may be wondering what a bastardy bond was. "Bastardy bonds were typically posted by putative fathers of illegitimate children to insure that the child was supported without public expense."*

"Bonds and records typically give the name of the father, his bondsman, as well as that of the mother and child, and the amount of the bond posted. Bastardy records may also include presentments against and examination of unwed mothers and mothers-to-be, warrants to bring putative fathers to court, and receipts for payments made on behalf of bastard children."*

So a female ancestor who had a child out of wedlock might be documented in a bastardy bond. These are great records for placing her in a time and location as well as confirming her as the mother of a child and possibly linking the father to them.

Look for these records through the FamilySearch Catalog, local courthouse or state archive. You might also want to read up on the existence of bastardy bonds in the location your ancestor lived.

Resources
The Legal Genealogist - Looking for Bonds
Delaware Public Archives - Taking Responsibility
FamilySearch - Catalog - Bastardy bonds and records (North Carolina), 1736-1957
FamilySearch - Catalog- Bastardy Bonds, 1880-1911 (Georgia)


*Bastardy Bonds and Records 1735-1966. State Archives of North Carolina.

Women's History Month 2018: Membership Records

OES Chapter from Brooklin, Maine. From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega

Our ancestors joined organizations, church groups, and volunteered. But knowing what they were a member of can be difficult at best. I think about my own paternal grandmother, who I knew, and I can't think of anything she was a member of. But as I think of other family members I can remember the church they attended, what they believed in, resulting in some ideas for possible membership groups surface.

Of course, a female ancestor may have also have been a member of an auxiliary to a male membership organization that her husband or father was a member of. Think in terms of the Grand Army of the Republic and women who were part of the Women's Relief Corps.

Looking at groups in the community might provide ideas for possible membership organizations. Searching city directories or local histories might also be of assistance. Those membership groups you identify kept records that now may be part of an archive.

Membership records can provide information like name, date, place as well as familial relationships, death information, and more.

Consider this entry from a ledger of meeting notes from the Order of the Eastern Star of Brooklin, Maine.* It includes information about a meeting held in honor of a member. It doesn't provide a death date but it appears that the date given may have been when she was buried.

From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega
 

Consider what memberships your female ancestor held and seek out those records. They can provide you a much more complete picture of her life including providing you with a glimpse at her FAN Club.

Resources
ArchiveGrid

*This ledger is one a I purchased. If  an archive from Maine or the OES would like it, I'd be happy to donate it.

Women's History Month 2018: Community Cookbooks

(c) Gena Philibert-Ortega

Come on! You knew I couldn't get through a Women's History Month series without talking about the importance of community cookbooks!

Community cookbooks are a city directory of women. They can include:

• Name
• Date
• Place
• Organization or religious affiliation
• Hints regarding familial relationships and ethnic background
• Community advertisements
• Food history
• Organization history

They are a wonderful source for researching women from the late 19th century to the present day. The problem is in  finding the community cookbooks you need. In some cases, it could be a home source. Otherwise, looking in a variety of places including libraries, eBay, and local used bookstores can be a good start.

Resources
Legacy Webinars - Researching Women: Community Cookbooks and What They Tell US About Our Ancestors

Food. Family.Ephemera

Bower, Anne. Recipes for Reading: Community Cookbooks, Stories, Histories. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1997.

Women's History Month 2018: Church Records

Svedal Church. Nebraska. (c) Gena Philibert-Ortega

"Church Records" are a vague all-encompassing term for those records found at a church. In some cases that may mean a vital record substitute. But it could also  mean a record that is specific to that church, such as a membership list or a census. What is important to remember about church records is that you may need to search in many places to find them and you must learn a little about the religion/church and what records remain extant.

What church did your ancestor attend? It might not be as easy as knowing their religion. Another  church may have been attended due to the building's proximity to the family. In countries with state churches, vital record events may be recorded there regardless of the family's religious beliefs.

Why are church records important for finding female ancestors? They can include the genealogical basics we search for, name, date, place. They can also include important dates (birth, marriage, death), familial relationships, participation in church ordinances, and more. They may be the one place a female ancestor is listed.

What's important is to determine the church attended or religion of your ancestor and then seek out those records. Those records may be archived in a church repository such as the actual church building, a church archive, a church sponsored university, or even a county or state archive.

One resource you may find useful for research in the United States is the church inventories done by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). These inventories were done as part of the Historical Records Survey and provide information about the church and records. This can be helpful in cases where you are researching a church that no longer exists.

These inventories can be found on state archive websites, Ancestry.com, and FamilySearch as well as other websites and repositories. Some online examples include inventories for Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.

Aside from "church records" don't forget about church publications like periodicals that may mention members.

Resources
Ancestry.com - Card Catalog - WPA
FamilySearch - Card Catalog - WPA Church

Women's History Month 2018: Confederate Pensions

I am acquainted with applicant  she is my sister  have known her all my life in Texas.
--John Bell Lewis in pension application for Jane S Chatham

Jane S Chatham pension application

Military pensions, and in some cases spouses' military records,  can be goldmines of  information for female ancestors. But you need to know where to look.

What information can pensions provide about a female ancestor? Marriage date and place, occupation, age, residence, and eventual death date are all possibilities when looking at a pension record.

When we look at the Civil War it's important to remember that a pension provided for Confederate service would be issued by the state the veteran lived in not the United States government. The National Archives states, "The veteran was eligible to apply for a pension to the State in which he lived, even if he served in a unit from a different State."* Consult the National Archives web page Confederate Pension Records to learn more about where to obtain pension records and when and under what circumstances they were issued. Links to online indexes can also be found on this page.

Consider the Texas application for my ancestor, Jane S. Lewis Chatham, widow of Moses H. Chatham (image at top of blog post). Her application not only provides most of the information mentioned previously but her file also includes affidavits from those who knew her including her brother who provides information about  her health, property she owns, and her financial status.

John Bell Lewis affidavit for Jane S Chatham pension

Always look for pensions because they can provide a wealth of information.


Resources
Ancestry.com - Alabama, Texas and Virginia, Confederate Pensions, 1884-1958
FamilySearch Wiki - Confederate Pension Records

* https://www.archives.gov/research/military/civil-war/confederate/pension.html

Women's History Month 2018: Southern Claims Commission

Margaret E. Smith. Ancestry.com. U.S., Southern Claims Commission Allowed Claims, 1871-1880 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008.

A year ago I went to a fabulous local Civil War conference hosted by Gazette 665. A speaker at the conference, David T Dixon,  gave probably one of the best presentations I have ever heard. His subject involved researching a 19th century African American woman named Rachel Brownfield who was enslaved but who was able to run a boarding house and amass money that allowed her to leave her children properties and cash when she died. She was the "wealthiest slave in Savannah." Probably my favorite part of her story is:

"As a lasting symbol of her defiance to the slave-owning society that had taken so much from her, she willed that the remainder of her estate be used for the "care and adornment of my lot and gravestone" in Laurel Grove Cemetery." Her grave stone looks out over those slave holders she knew.*

Of course my first question to the presenter after hearing this remarkable story was, "what records did you research?" After all, telling the story of an enslaved woman can be difficult at best since few records may exist.

His answer? The records of the Southern Claims Commission.

Have you researched the Southern Claims Commission Records? Southerners who remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War and who suffered personal property losses, including supplies and livestock, could file a claim for damages with the Southern Claims Commission. Residents of twelve states were allowed to make claims: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Southern loyalists made 22,298 claims between March 1871 and March 1873. Claims were made based on the fact that a Southerner was loyal to the Union during the Civil War and had supplies taken by or furnished to the Union Army.

Now, while you would assume from the above description that only Southerners who had been aligned with the Union would be a part of these records that was not always the case.  As Elizabeth Nitschke Hicks writes in the article, The Southern Claims Commission, A Little Known Source of Genealogical Information,

"The claimant had to answer that he/she had been loyal to the Union, and had not provided aid of any kind in support of the Confederacy . . . consider that people did what they had to do to receive compensation for losses suffered during the war. Many southerners did not consider it "lying" to "lie" to a Yankee. . . ."

These records can be an invaluable source to a researcher because they may prove to be one of the only records that can be found on a family when a county was "burned over" or may help you verify a location for an ancestor who died before the implementation of state wide vital registration (death records). It also provides yet another clue to what life was like for your ancestor during the Civil War.

These claims included the testimony of a person's neighbor testimony and the testimony of the claimant about aspects of his/her life during the Civil War.
There are three types of claims: Allowed, Barred, and Disallowed. In Allowed claims the U. S. paid the claim. The only record left of these claims includes the name of the claimant, residence, and the amount paid. Barred claims were those where the claimant either filed too late or was deemed a Confederate supporter. These records have the name of the claimant, residence, and a description of the loss. Disallowed claims were not paid and provide researcher with the most information.

These records tell us about Southern women's lives during the Civil War. In the above claim (pictured) one of the loses Margaret E Smith of Cherokee County , Alabama lists is salt. Now you may think "who cares that a Southern woman lost some salt to the Union army." But if you know food history, you would realize it was a BIG deal. Salt was used to preserve food, especially ham. The South was starving towards the end of the Civil War. Without salt, and there was a lack of salt for various reasons, meat couldn't be cured. Salt became an important commodity, it was even given as a gift during Civil War era weddings.** Mrs. Smith states that General Sherman's army came through and took 20 pounds of salt. A large amount of a precious commodity. The information on these records also provides her husband's name and that she is a widow. These records not only document the Civil War but  women's lives. AND they include white and African American women.

Where can you find these records? These are National Archives records so they can be found in the NARA catalog but you may also want to seek related databases on genealogy subscription websites Fold3 and Ancestry.com.

Fold 3 includes the following FREE databases (as of this writing):

• Southern Claims - Barred and Disallowed (NARA M1407)
• Southern Claims-Approved-Alabama
• Southern Claims-Approved-Georgia
• Southern Claims-Approved-Virginia
• Southern Claims-Approved-West Virginia
• Southern Claims Commission Approved Claims, 1871-1880

Ancestry.com includes:

• U.S. Southern Claims Commission Master Index, 1871-1880
• U.S. Southern Claims Commission, Disallowed and Barred Claims, 1871-1880
• U.S., Southern Claims Commission Allowed Claims, 1871-1880

Some resources found via a FamilySearch Catalog search include:

• Civil War claims in the South: An index of Civil War damage claims filed before the Southern Claims Commission, 1871-1880 by Gary B Mills. Aegean Press: California. 1980 (digital version available)

• Southern Loyalists in the Civil War: The Southern Claims Commission by Gary B Mills. Genealogical Publishing Co.: Maryland. 1994.

• Records of the Commissioners of Claims (Southern Claims Commission) 1871-1880. Microfilm of original records in the National Archives.(FHL Microfilm #1463975-1462976, 1463963-1463974).

Resources

FamilySearch Wiki - Southern Claims Commission

Freedmen & Southern Society Project - Testimony by a Georgia Freedwoman before the Southern Claims Commission


*David T. Dixon, The Wealthiest Slave in Savannah. Article available at the author's website: http://www.davidtdixon.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Wealthiest-Slave-in-Savannah.pdf

**Andrew F Smith, Starving the South: How the North Won the Civil War. (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2011).

Women's History Month 2018: Correspondence

Guess I will take a pill and a coca cola. I am weary of the misery.

--letter to Myrna Giddings from her mother, 21 September 1938*

Giddings family letters. In possession of Gena Philibert-Ortega

Correspondence, letters, pages women wrote that reached out to friends, family, significant others and provide a glimpse of everyday life. We make an assumption that for a large part of history women were illiterate and so they didn't leave behind any writings. But make sure not to make assumptions. Women's letters as early as 300 BCE have been found and published.**

Now, you may be thinking "my female ancestor didn't leave behind any letters." I understand. The only family letter I have is a letter from an English genealogist who responded to my maternal grandmother's request for a parish record lookup. This tired female genealogist provides some glimpses of her hectic life that involved taking care of small children and providing family history research services to Americans. Though written in the 1960s her exasperation is one felt by modern-day moms. My grandmother's "voice" is not represented but it gives me an idea about what she was doing, genealogy wise, based on the researcher's response.  How did I get access to this letter? My grandmother gave it to me for my stamp collection when I was a kid. Sometimes genealogy is found in odd places.

We should look at letters for two reasons. One, if they are authored by our ancestor they provide a glimpse into her life that is not recorded in official records (unless, of course, she wrote of important events like the birth of a baby or the death of a family member). Second, if they are authored by someone in her FAN Club we can expand our understanding of her community. Remember that researching women's lives needs to include her FAN Club (friends, associates, and neighbors).

Where do you find letters? After exhausting family for possible home sources, conduct a place search in an archival catalog like ArchiveGrid. There are also subscription databases and finding aids available that provide access or links to women's correspondence as well. See the Resources below.

Resources
Alexander Street Press - North American Women's Letters and Diaries
Alexander Street Press - British & Irish Women's Letters and Diaries
Carnegie Mellon Library - Women's History: Primary Sources: Collections, Papers, Letters, and Diaries
Georgetown University Library - Women's Manuscript Collections-19C Women's Journals and Letters


*From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega.
**See the book Women's Letters from Ancient Egypt, 300 BC - AD 800.