For the greater part of American history, and like most of the World, the United States has been largely a patriarchal society. As such, through law and custom, men and husbands ruled the affairs of home and were the recognized ambassador of the family in political and worldly affairs. Often, only a mans name appeared on wills, land records, pension records, census records, and other such records of genealogical concern. When mentioned, women, mothers and daughters, were often “hidden” under the use of terms like “Mrs.,” “Mistress,” “goodwife,” “wife of,” “daughter of,” etc. This makes finding the names and details of female ancestors more difficult than one’s male ancestry.
The Hidden Half of the Family: A Sourcebook for Women’s Genealogy, by Christina Kassabian Schaefer, demonstrates h0w to recover the identities of one’s female ancestors. The authors solution to finding ancestors in a patriarchal history that often obscured a women’s identity is to find those government, legal and social area where the unequivocal identification of both men and women was custom. Schaefer expounds on her belief that, “the legal status of women at any point in time is the key to unraveling the identity of the female ancestor.” She examines the history and laws, both federal and state, granting freedoms to women like owning real estate in her own name, ability to enter contracts, devise wills, and other freedoms awarded only to men prior to these changes of law.
The book is broken down state by state. Each state includes historical dates relevant to the state’s history and for key changes in the laws pertinent to women’s rights and to records in which women many appear. Such areas of change include marriage and divorce, property and inheritance, suffrage, citizenship, censuses, and other such items. For each state, there is also information for finding marriage and divorce records as well as selected resources for women’s history.
Table of Contents
Table of Illustration
Preface
How to Use This Book
Introduction
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowas
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
Newe Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsyvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Order The Hidden Half of the Family: A Sourcebook for Women’s Genealogy from Family Roots Publishing; Item #: GPC5179 , Price: $41.33.