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"Applying Lessons Learned" When Researching Female Ancestors

Image by rawpixel.com   Women in our family trees frequently get short shrift, don't they? With maiden names often undiscovered, they sometime languish, faded and unknown, next to their better-documented husbands on our family trees. Records don't often exist for them, distant descendants might not know their names, or they died without progeny to remember and carry their names forward. What if there was a resource that could help you discover more about those silent women to bring them out of the shadows? Such a resources exists in Telling Her Story: A Guide to Writing About Women of the Past by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack (Salt Lake City: Scattered Leaves Press, 2024). I used what I learned from this book to craft a series of blog posts on my great-great-great grandmother Mary Jane Sheridan. And I wrote about that process in the article: "Applying Lessons Learned," for the September 2025 issue of  Stirpes , the Journal of the Texas State Genealogical Society. Read it...
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Visit to Greenwood Cemetery, Newton, Kansas


 

by Nancy Gilbride Casey


I've often shared photos, documents, and genealogical news on Facebook. I thought it worthwhile to publish them here, on Leaves on the Tree, as well. This will be an occasional project as the Facebook Memories posts come up.

 

Today's throwback is to July 3, 2021, when daughter Anne and I were coming back from a trip to Colorado. We journeyed through Kansas, and stayed near Newton, Kansas, just so I could visit Greenwood Cemetery, and capture some grave photos of my husband's Davis and Taylor ancestors.


These three headstones mark three Davis/Taylor graves. From right to left: The largest stone is for Collostin Davis and Ellen Maria Martin Davis, Jim's 3x great grandparents. The middle monument is that of the Davis' daughter Florence and her husband Henry O. Taylor. Lastly, next to the tree, is the grave of Blanche Davis Eddington, Florence's sister.

The largest stone is for Jim's 3x great grandfather Collostin James Davis, Civil War veteran of the 12th Maine Infantry. His wife was Ellen Maria Martin Davis; she and Collostin were the parents of Florence, Blanche and George. Sadly Ellen outlived her husband, and all of her children







The small, original stone for John Davis, Collostin's brother, and fellow Civil War veteran from of the 42nd Maine Infantry. An inscription for John was later added to the main stone (below), but the original one still present.

Inscription for George R. Davis, Collostin and Ellen's son.

Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) marker. The GAR was begun in 1866 as a fraternal organization for Union veterans. The F, C and L stand for fraternity, charity and loyalty. Both Collostin and John were members of the GAR during their lives and honored with these markers for their service during the Civil War, after their deaths.

Until next time....

Read other posts on the Davis and Taylor families:


NOTES

All images: Nancy Gilbride Casey, photographer, Davis and Taylor grave sites, Greenwood Cemetery, Newton, Kansas, 4 July 2021.
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