Researching the Women: First Steps

I've identified 12 women in my family tree, indicated by ovals here, who need further research.

Don't you love starting a new genealogical project? I'm excited to begin developing research projects for the under-documented women in my family tree—one of my goals this year. 

To begin, I downloaded a family tree fan chart from FamilySearch and drew an oval around twelve ancestresses who "need a little love." The focus ladies fall into neat groups, which will help streamline my research.

Paternal Ancestresses:

• Bridget Eagen, Ann Kelly, and Margaret McAndrew were all my grandfather Joseph John Gilbride, Sr.'s ancestors. Two were born in Ireland. All three lived at least part of their lives in Scranton, Luzerne/Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, and two later moved to Cleveland.
• Sarah Dyer, Maria Jane Darragh, Catherine Manley, Mary Jane Sheridan, and Dorah Elliot were all my grandmother Mary Josephine Baker's ancestors. Three identified as Irish, one Scottish, and the fifth—and this is why I need to do this project—I have no idea where she was born! These women all lived in St. Catharines or Port Dalhousie, Ontario.

Maternal Ancestresses:

• Mara Stunja is my mother's Croatian great-grandmother. 
• Margaret Simonik is my Slovak grandmother. I've done some writing on her before, but I need to "finish the story." I also want to focus on her mother, Slovak immigrant Anna Sophia Tatar, as well as Catherina Skapura, Grandma's paternal grandmother.
• Of this group, only Anna immigrated from her home country. Mara and Catherina both lived and died in their native countries—Croatia and Slovakia, respectively.

One big benefit to grouping these ladies is that documentation on each group could mainly be found in one locality. For example, the second paternal group above were all based in Ontario, and I already have a locality guide for that area. This  guide gives me a head start into the record sets which exist in the area; a simple review and update will help set the stage for a project on them.

As I mentioned in last week's post, the book Telling Her Story: A Guide to Researching and Writing About Women of the Past, by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, is top of my reading list this year.

I've just started this book and have already gleaned some important tidbits. The most important takeaway so far is that this guide is not just about how to find documentation on the dates and places; it is about telling the ancestor's story. Records do tell part of this story, but it's the social history that puts flesh on the bones and really gives a flavor for what the woman's life was like. Call it a recipe of sorts—in fact, author DeBartolo Carmack gives us "Sharon's Recipe for Researching and Writing About Female Ancestors," comprised of three steps:

• Gather Ingredients, like home sources/artifacts, censuses, wills, vital records, etc.
• Combine Ingredients, by reviewing and analyzing all the records of a female ancestor, as well as their families, neighbors, etc. Then, add social history.
• Lastly, Bake! Write a compelling, interesting narrative for the woman.¹

This week I plan to fine tune a first project and continue reading Telling Her Story.

P.S. My email inbox stands at 4833...

Until next time...

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© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2025. All rights reserved.

This post was updated on 16 August 2025. 

NOTES

¹ Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, Telling Her Story: A Guide to Researching and Writing About Women of the Past (Scattered Leaves Press: Salt Lake City, 2024), p. 16. Find this book at a library near you on Worldcat (https://search.worldcat.org/title/1475024289).