The farmer takes a wife
The farmer takes a wife
Hi-ho, the derry-o…
The farmer takes a wife
--The Farmer in the Dell
Right up there with the genealogist's curse (not finding a woman's maiden name) is the familiar lament that an ancestor was "just a farmer." This "problem" assumes that no records exist for such a pedestrian activity as farming. And obviously, what's worse than having an ancestor that was just a farmer? Researching a farmer's wife, it is assumed, means absolutely no pertinent documents that list her by name.
But there are resources and records left behind for and about the farming community. This discussion is a longer one that I present in a lecture but for our purposes here, discovering directories that list female ancestors, let's focus on farm directories.
Think of a farm directory as a city directory for the rural community. Just like the city directory, these directories change over time and place. Largely a 20th century resource, they may not list your female ancestor by name. They may list only the husband's name and little else. But they are still worth checking as you expand your farm research with other resources like plat maps, land records, and the US census agricultural schedules.
The first farm directory I fell in love with was one that not only listed the husband but the wife's maiden name, kid's names, and other information that provided a "picture" of that family for that location and time. Can you imagine discovering someone's maiden name in a directory??
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| https://archive.org/details/boonecountyindia00unse/page/n65 |
Farm directories (also called rural directories) are found in the same places that you might find city directories. Some examples are below. Obviously, you will want to search digitized book websites, local libraries, and other digital collections as you search for pertinent directories for the community your ancestor lived in.
Resources
Penn State University Libraries - American agriculturalist farm directory and reference book of Erie County Pennsylvania
Ancestry.com - Card Catalog, Farm Directory search
FamilySearch - Catalog Keyword search, Farm Directory
Internet Archive - Farm Directory search
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