Category: Female Ancestors

Beyond Rosie: Women in Wartime

Women can do it...because they always have! From the Revolutionary War to WWII, learn the various, surprising ways women in wartime served our country.

5 Genealogy Activities to Do in March

This March, observe Women’s History Month by paying extra attention to your female forbears! Try these 5 tasks to get to know the females on your family tree.

Best Records for Finding Female Ancestors

Looking for the women in your family tree? Start your search for female ancestors in these genealogy records.

DNA Q&A: The Case of Mom’s Missing Surname

A reader has many DNA matches on her maternal side, but not one of them shares her mother's maiden name. What? Our DNA expert weighs in on the case of the missing surname.

How to Learn About Working Women in Old Family Photos

Did your female ancestors work outside the home? In this article, the photo detective, Maureen Taylor, demonstrates how you can find clues to your great-grandma's occupation in old photographs.

Your Searchable Guide to Female Ancestor Nicknames

Can't find your female ancestor in a database? This nicknames list will provide you the clues you need to identify them.

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Comparing Faces in Old Family Photos

Here they are again. I'm enamored of this photo; it's a layered puzzle with many clues. In my first post about it I examined the clothing details and asked for additional information. In the second post, we considered the other couples in the family that married in the 1880s. William...

How to Take the Headache Out Of Old Confusing Photos

Carol Tear has a photos that's full of contradictions. It's enough to give a genealogist a headache, but it doesn't have to. She thinks this is Hannah Marquart Obenshain (born in 1788, dies sometime between 1850 and 1860). With a bit of research and family data, some of the identity...

Old Photos: The Secret Ingredient to Discovering Family History

You're probably wondering what I mean by photo clues being the secret ingredient. Think of your family history as a recipe. In my grandmother's terms, that would consist of a pinch of this and a pinch of that. Genealogy is the same way: We look at...

How to Identify an Old Tintype Photo

In part three of genealogist Darlene Sampley's mystery photos, it's time to take a look at another tintype. The first post explored the identity of a blue-eyed blonde girl in a painted tintype. Last week, we looked at a pair of crayon portraits. Preservation NoteA tintype is an image created...

A Pair of Photo Mysteries: Charcoal-Enhanced 1840s Portraits

Darlene Sampley isn't sure who the young woman is in the painted tintype featured in last week's column, but she working on figuring out the mystery. But that tintype isn't the only problem photo in Darlene's collection. This week it's a pair of portraits, of a mysterious man and woman...

Toxic Hairstyles in Old Family Photos

What's the weirdest thing you've ever done to your hair? Bad hair happens to everyone unless your hair is too short to go astray. You know what I'm talking about. Generations of women (and men) have spent money on preparations to make their hair conform to the latest...

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