finidng female ancestors
TRANSCRIPT
FINDING YOUR FEMALE ANCESTORSFamily Portrait With Mother, Father, Two Small Boys And Baby: pone5.comBy Erik Bauer, MA - Archivist for the Peabody Institute in Peabody MA.
Massachusetts
Peabody Institute Records
Non Government Records
Additional State Records (General)
Federal Records
Abridged
MASSACHUSETTS
1621 the New plymouth Colony makes marriage a civil contract.
1639 the first divorce is granted in English North America
1692 clergymen are permitted to preform marriages
1693 act requires marriages to be recorded
1855 divorce laws are changed to be more women friendly
WHERE TO FIND THESE RECORDS?
Essex County Court records can be found at the Essex County Courthouse in Salem and they cover ca. 1636-1795.
Middlesex records cover 1600-1799 and can be found at the Clerk of Courts at the Middlesex Courthouse in Cambridge
Marriage records up to 1901can be found at the Massachusetts State Archive and they are on microfilm.
Marriages after 1902 can be found at the State Registrar of Vital Records at 50 Mt Vernon St #1, Dorchester.
State archives a will have divorce records from ca. 1760-1786.
Supreme Judicial Court of keeps an index of divorce records from 1812-1867
State census can be found at the Massachusetts State Archives
PEABODY ARCHIVES
Voter Registration Records form 1920 to 1922
Poll Tax Records from 1920 to 1962
List of Polls from 1932 to 1966
Card Catalogue in Research Room
Valuation Records from 1920-1925
Probate books of Massachusetts from 1635-1681
South Danvers & Peabody Marriage Intention 1855-1883
Danvers Vital Records, birth, marriage & death from 1755-1843
Vital Records until 1850 for many MA cities and towns
Back issues of the New England Historic & Genealogical Register
North Carolina Historical & Genealogical Register
Back issues of the Essex Institute
NON GOVERNMENT RECORDS
Newspapers
May have engagements, marriage notices, anniversary announcements, divorce notices, obituaries and death notices, probate proceedings, port arrivals among other information.
Cemetery Records
Include information similar to what you find on a marriage certificate. Peabody Historical Society has those records.
ADDITIONAL STATE RECORDS
Dower Releases
Land transactions where the husband & wife sold property.
Usually a paragraph where the wife releases her dower.
Dower is a legal provision for a woman’s support and that of her children after her husband’s death.
The widow’s third
Usually a paragraph where the wife released her dower.
Often do not give the maiden name, but provides a time frame when looking at pre-1850 ancestors.
Massachusetts was very lax about dower acknowledgments.
CENSUS & INSANITY RECORDS
1840, 1850, 1860, 1870 & 1880 census had a column for insane people a check or hash mark would be in that column.
1880 census look at the separate 1880 Schedule for the Defective Dependent, for more detailed information.
Can be found on ancestry.com
Can also look at probate and surrogates’ court records. If you do find that ancestor write to local historical society or library to see if they have the records or if the institution still exists.
Will need to prove that you are related or get a court order to get that information because of privacy laws.
IMMIGRATION PEAKS FROM 1820 TO 1950(NOT A COMPLETE LIST)
1824 West Indies
1851 France & Ireland
1882 China, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway & Sweden
1883 Switzerland
1888 Great Britain
1907 Austria-Hungry, Greece, Italy and Japan
1913 Belgium, Russia, Turkey (mostly Armenian refugees)
1921 Czechoslovakia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain
1924 Canada, Newfoundland, Mexico and South America
IMMIGRATION, CITIZENSHIP AND PASSPORT RECORDS
Before the Constitution English women were transported in bondage or as indentured servants. Many came from the port of Bristol in England. Prior to 1855 there was no specific reference to women’s citizenship.
Between 1855 & 1922 any married women automatically became a U.S. citizen when she married a U.S. citizen or a man who became a citizen.
From 1907 to 1922 women wold retain her U.S. citizenship if her marriage ended in divorce, as long as she continued to reside in the U.S. or registered for within one year of leaving the U.S.
From 1907 to 1922 if a woman married a foreigner she would lost her citizenship and took on the nationality of her husband. She would have to apply for U.S. citizenship.
1917 the Federal Immigration Act put restrictions on unmarried women with children. Single women could only enter if they had a sponsor, mostly a male and written proof of sponsorship. In some ports women would marry their husband as proof they were not here as part of a prostitution ring.
After 1922 women no longer lost their citizenship if they married non-Americans.
National Archives in Waltham has the passenger arrival lists for Boston (1820-1943). The lists are on microfilm
The Massachusetts State Archive has passenger manifest from 1848-1891 and is searchable, but incomplete. Best to go there in person if possible.
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcsrch/PassengerManifestSearchContents.html
LOSS OF CITIZENSHIP
From 1907 until 1922 if a female U.S. citizen married an alien she lost her citizenship and took on the nationality of her husband
Law was repealed in 1922, but citizenship was not restored until 1936 and could only regain her citizenship after death or divorce of her husband.
The form “Application to Take Oath of Allegiance to the United States under the Act of June 25, 1936, as Amended, and Form of Such Oath.”
Documents included U.S. birth certificate, marriage license, copy of divorce decree, a husbands death certificate, etc.
PASSPORTS
Not required by U.S. citizens before World War I except for the Civil War.
Passport information from 1791-1925 are on microfilm at the National Archives in D.C. ancestry.com also has them
From 1925 to present they can be found at the U.S. State Department.
http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/services/obtain-copies-of-passport-records.html
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The Hidden Half of the Family: A Sourcebook for Women’s Genealogy by Christina Kassabian Schaefer
New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston
American Antiquarian Society, Worcester
Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston
www.cyndislist.com/
Menand, Catherine S. A Research Guide to the Massachusetts and Their Records (Boston: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Archives and Records), 1987
Boston Anthenaeum 10 Beacon Street Boston MA
The Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in American
https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library
Carangelo, Lori. The Ultimate Search Book 2015 Edition (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2015).
DeBartolo Carmack, Sharon. Finding Female Ancestors (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2013.)