Kay Germain Ingalls, “Cherchez la Femme! Looking for Female Ancestors,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 88 (September 2000): 165-178.
“A quest to identify and know a particular female will take a meandering path through the records of numerous people in unexpected places.” Kay Germain Ingalls hits the nail on the head with her introduction to “Cherchez la Femme! Looking for Female Ancestors.” Though published in NGSQ almost 20 years ago now, the statement remains a pertinent reminder that though researching female ancestors can be a distinct challenge, it does not happen in a vacuum. She describes the process of beginning to solve a problem involving researching female ancestors just as you would with any other genealogical problem: by starting with what you know and beginning with basic records. From there, you build outward to find “every extant document, especially those unindexed or unfilmed materials found in repositories everywhere.”
Just as she explains in the introduction, her guide to researching female ancestors begins with the basics, emphasizing the importance of what she deems “good work habits:” being thorough and practicing careful and exacting analysis. More than this though, she stresses the importance of learning from a wide range of previously published case studies, using original records, and learning about the law. Once “armed with a solid background,” she instructs researchers seeking female ancestors to develop a strategy. As she explains, “Identifying the family of a woman in her sixties requires a different approach than identifying a teenager.” To accomplish the goal of uncovering and documenting the details of a woman’s life, you must first determine exactly what the problem is (do you have a name to begin with or is the wife of so-and-so completely unknown?), analyze known details for clues, and use records thoroughly and creatively.
Ingalls’ detailed explanation for how to accomplish those three steps give the reader much food for thought that they can then apply to their own research. She mentions possible reasons for negative results when searching for a marriage, several points to consider and examine regarding the husband (age in relation to the bride, military service, occupation, etc.), and warns the researcher of red-herrings in the form of unusual names. The instruction to seek out less accessible records still holds true today, almost 20 years later. Even with the wealth of information currently available to us online, not everything has been digitized or even microfilmed and researchers still need to be reminded to check for original records not accessible online. She also touches on direct and indirect evidence when discussing the use of court records which may show a woman by name in guardianship records but which may only show the name of her husband or brother in road records. Both can be useful to the researcher if he/she knows what to look for and what to do with that information.
The author also includes a lengthy discussion of the use of land records when seeking female ancestors. This is a source often passed over by researchers because of the incorrect view that women won’t show up or that there won’t be anything useful found in the books of land transactions. Women appear in deed books for many reasons and are often named in or party to transactions occurring with her own family members. Additionally, deed books record other transactions besides land sales such as mortgages and leases, deeds of manumission, and bills of sale. To ignore these valuable records would be building your own brick wall unnecessarily and is likely to prevent success in your research.
Probate records and newspapers are also discussed as valuable additions to a female-centric research plan, but the author does a great service by reminding readers that women “are not always camouflaged among the records of the men in their lives.” To execute a research plan that simply follows the records of the men alone can be disastrous to your success as women could have acted as femme soles, they could have participated in activist organizations and signed petitions, and they could even have been active in the military. All of these actions have the potential to offer valuable information in your search and those options should not be ignored.
The article succeeds in offering some excellent advice on how to tailor a search for female ancestors and what to focus on while you’re going through the research itself. It reminds researchers to dig deeper, use every bit of their analytic acumen, and to think both inside and outside of the box. Despite being nearly 20 years old, the information does not feel dated and still offers sound research advice for everyone seeking their female ancestors, whether they are a beginner or a more experienced researcher. If the article is not currently part of your library, it should be.