Thank you for registering for the online course, Tracing Female Ancestors in America!
Women make up 50% of your ancestry, yet their lives, experiences, and even complete names are all too often forgotten by written history. This course will help you reclaim their stories by providing resources and strategies for finding maiden names, discussing women’s legal rights through history as they pertain to genealogical documents (such as land and probate records, voting lists, naturalization, etc.), uncovering material and written culture left behind, and using mitochondrial DNA to trace maternal lines.
This course includes four 90-minute lectures and exclusive access to handouts. Original broadcasts February 2022.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Class 1: Finding Elusive Maiden Names
Presented by: Ann Lawthers
Learning about your female ancestors and their families is dependent on knowing her maiden name. Unfortunately, all too often we find women listed by their married names only or that their maiden name is simply not recorded. Learn what records are most likely to provide this information and gain important strategies for finding that elusive maiden name.
Class 2: Legal Rights of Women in America
Presented by: Rhonda R. McClure
Understanding women’s legal rights in America can help provide expectations for when women might appear in records, help define their roles in said records, and lend context for understanding your ancestors’ lives. In this class, Rhonda R. McClure outlines the rights and roles of women in documentary history and provides a number of examples, especially as it applies to land, probate, voting, and naturalization.
Class 3: Researching Women in the Archives
Presented by: Judy Lucey
Although women were often overlooked in official records, throughout time they have been the keepers of family and personal history. When they survive, diaries, letters, account books, family bibles, samplers, organization records, and more can reveal more about a woman’s daily life than any government document. Judy Lucey discusses how these unique records and manuscripts can be used to piece together a family story and how digging in the archives can hit genealogical gold.
Class 4: Using mtDNA to Trace Female Ancestors
Presented by: Christopher C. Child
Advances in DNA research over the last decades have had huge implications for the field of genealogy. Testing mtDNA in particular can lead to discoveries along your maternal line—both in the recent and distant past. Using a number of case studies, Christopher Child demonstrates how mtDNA results can help you verify hypotheses, make connections, and trace female ancestors.
COURSE HANDOUTS
RECORDED PRESENTATIONS
Class 1: Finding Elusive Maiden Names
Live Broadcast: February 2, 2022
Presented by: Ann G. Lawthers
Running Time: 1:28:17
Class 2: Legal Rights of Women in America
Live Broadcast: February 9, 2022
Presented by: Rhonda R. McClure
Running Time: 1:37:29
Class 3: Researching Women in Archives
Live Broadcast: February 16, 2022
Presented by: Judy Lucey
Running Time: 1:42:13
Class 4: Using mtDNA to Trace Female Ancestors
Live Broadcast: February 23, 2022
Presented by: Christopher Child
Running Time: 1:25:17
INSTRUCTOR BIOS
Christopher C. Child, Senior Genealogist of the Newbury Street Press has worked for various departments at American Ancestors since 1997 and became a full-time employee in July 2003. He has been a member of American Ancestors since the age of eleven. He has written several articles in American Ancestors, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, and The Mayflower Descendant. He is the co-editor of The Ancestry of Catherine Middleton (American Ancestors, 2011), co-author of The Descendants of Judge John Lowell of Newburyport, Massachusetts (Newbury Street Press, 2011) and Ancestors and Descendants of George Rufus and Alice Nelson Pratt (Newbury Street Press, 2013), and author of The Nelson Family of Rowley, Massachusetts (Newbury Street Press, 2014). Chris holds a B.A. in history from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. His areas of expertise include: Southern New England, especially Connecticut; New York; ancestry of notable figures, especially presidents; genetics and genealogy; African-American and Native-American genealogy, 19th- and 20th-Century research, westward migrations out of New England, and applying to hereditary societies.
Ann Lawthers, Genealogist helps members and not-yet members with their family history research by providing lectures, courses, and hands-on workshops at the American Ancestors Research Center, at genealogical conferences across the country, and online. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Harvard School of Public Health, with Masters and Doctoral degrees in Health Policy. Her areas of particular interest include New England and New York, the Mid-Atlantic states, the southern colonies, Ireland, and migration patterns.
Judy Lucey, Senior Archivist oversees the management and preservation of the American Ancestors Special Collections. She received a B.S. in Education from Northeastern University and an M.S. in Library Science from Simmons College. She is co-author of the Genealogist's Handbook for Irish Research and frequently contributes to American Ancestors magazine. Her areas of expertise include, Irish genealogy, the Atlantic Canadian Provinces of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and New England.
Rhonda R. McClure, Senior Genealogist is a nationally recognized professional genealogist and lecturer. Before joining American Ancestors in 2006, she ran her own genealogical business for 18 years. She was a contributing editor for Heritage Quest Magazine, Biography magazine, and was a contributor to The History Channel Magazine and American History Magazine. In addition to numerous articles, she is the author of twelve books including the award-winning The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online Genealogy, Finding your Famous and Infamous Ancestors and Digitizing Your Family History. She is the editor of the newly released 6th edition of the Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research. Her areas of expertise include, immigration and naturalization, late 19th- and early 20th-century urban research, missionaries, State Department Federal records, New England, Mid-West, Southern, German, Italian, Scottish, Irish, French Canadian, and New Brunswick research as well as Internet research, genealogical software and online trees.
OTHER RESOURCES
2019 Fall Issue of American Ancestors magazine:
cover story, "The Essential Guide to Researching Female Ancestors."