See Five Strategies For Finding Forgotten Females
The one I want to reflect on is No. 4
4. Track Her through Time
The suggestion is to make the woman’s own timeline.
What record did her name first appear to you?
Is there a marriage record?
Was it a census?
Was she a witness to an event as in the baptism of her child?
Was she a witness to an event as in the baptism of someone elses's child ?
Was she found mentioned in an obituary or her name engraved on a tombstone ?
Is there an obituary?
I find myself sketching out on a poster board (or using the timeline features in my genealogy software) to see her life in terms of the records of events I collected concerning her and her family.
Sometimes you do not have her name but you find her in a record as a “Mrs.” only. I have a few “Janosne Nagy” (Mrs. Janos Nagy) that I need to sort out in one village. In my experience, it seems that the Reformed or Calvinist Church records seem fond of letting a woman, who gave birth to maybe ten or eleven children, go unnamed! There is nothing like combing through these kinds of baptisms while hoping the minister slips just once and writes in, at least, her given (first) name !
How to find the maiden name of these elusive female ancestors ?
Many times I have discovered the married woman's maiden name in the godparents column.
Where did she die?
I have found many death records miles away from where the married women lived, especially after she was widowed, living with her adult children. That requires following each of this woman's children from birth, marriage, death and burial records of her children.
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