Tracing the Lost Ladies of the Past

It was a dark and stormy night, and at midnight I still was looking for a lost lady. Well, actually she was not lost. I was--surrounded by stacks of research notes as I sifted through them for clues to my great-great-great-grandmother’s maiden name.

This woman was born in 1808, died in 1848, and never appeared in any census under her own name. She is simply a statistic--not a name--in the censuses from 1810 to 1840. Her tombstone gives only her first and married name.

Every genealogist can relate to the problem of finding information to identify female ancestors. It probably is the most difficult problem in genealogical research. Part of the enigma is the great duplication of female given names. We all have numerous Marys, Elizabeths and Sarahs hanging upon our family trees, and to complicate matters, they often were called by their nicknames: Polly, Molly, Libby and Sally.

Many women died in childbirth and their husbands usually remarried--and frequently the second or third wife had the same first name as one of the other wives. So identifying which Elizabeth was the mother of your ancestor requires more than just luck.

Tracking down the marriage records (which likely will provide the maiden name of your ancestor) is probably the most time-consuming part of genealogical research. Many marriages were never recorded, so you are forced to scrutinize wills, probate and land records--hoping to find her listed in her husband’s, father’s, grandfathers’, uncles’, brothers’ or sons’ records.

Even finding a marriage record may not solve the problem of determining her maiden name. She could have been a widow at the time of her marriage to your ancestor, so you must check for a settlement of a possible first husband’s estate--which often was done by her second husband--to be sure you actually have her maiden name.

Even upon discovery of a Preble County, Ohio, marriage record of an Elizabeth Clark to a William Hansford in 1842 (which would fit the time frame and locale), the search for her through the census records can be a nightmare. William Hansford may have died in 1848, leaving her with three little children, and your examination of the 1850 census for an Elizabeth Hansford will turn up negative, if she remarried in 1849. You are left without the foggiest clue to her second husband’s name until you return to examine the extant marriage records for an Elizabeth Hansford who married some other gentleman. Then you have another man’s name and can continue your search.

If a woman outlived her husband, you still must determine if the widow was indeed the mother of his children. This necessitates a search of his probate records for a will, property divisions, petitions for, or paying tax on “dower tracts,” plus combing through deeds and bills of sale, tax payments on estates and any records dealing with her minor children. Prior to recent times, a man was appointed guardian of minor children, even though their mother was still alive.

Females often appear in the records as someone else’s “in-law”--that is, she may be mentioned in the records of her brothers-in-law or sons-in-law; or in her maternal grandparents’ estates. This research takes time and discipline and forces you to track down all the children of each of your ancestors--for in one of your Elizabeth’s relatives’ records may be the evidence to prove who she was.

Hunting lost ladies is why many genealogists are often up late on dark and stormy nights.