Thursday, May 9, 2013

#NGS2013 - Documenting the Lives of Mormon Women

Gena Philibert-Ortega“Why is it it is so hard to find information about our women ancestors?” asked Gena Philibert-Ortega in her session at the 2013 annual conference of the National Genealogical Society. We need to use the kind of sources that document women’s lives, she said. These are sources like newspapers, membership lists, signature quilts, scrapbooks, diaries, history resources, and so forth.

“One of your first stops should be the FamilySearch Research Wiki,” she said. One article is “Tracing LDS Ancestors.” It is a good place to start learning about LDS genealogy in general.

To find women we need to research more than the woman herself. We have to research the family, the neighbors, the community, and organizations. For example, even though your grandmother may not have kept a diary, someone who did may have written about her.

“You’ll also want to research the history of the time,” she said.

When using a library or archive card catalog or online resource, don’t search for your ancestor’s name. Instead use keywords such as “Mormon Women” or “Washington County.”

Philibert-Ortega pointed out many excellent websites. All the links will be posted on her blog, Gena’s Genealogy.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sending this out to those of us who couldn't be there. I appreciate it very much.

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