Today's Colonial Gift

'I am a good Spellar, Spillar, Speller' says Colonial Whiskers!

In genealogy, beginners often make two common mistakes, when reading handwritten documents. They create spelling errors where none exist because some letters used to be written differently. The word usually read as 'ye' as in Ye Old Shoppe is not a strange, outdated word at all. The letter that appears to be( a y ), is actually a character known as 'a thorn', that stood for the letters 'th.' 'Ye' is actually a very modern 'the' using an outdated symbol. Also, the letter that appears to be an 'f' is actually the accepted way of writing the first s. It was never intended to represent an f. The silent e on the end of almost any word was common and and very excepted. Doubling letters was also popular as in 'shoppe', being a good example of both.

Today's Colonial Gift

Today's Colonial Gift from Whiskers is about finding female ancestors! Whiskers imparts the following advice for all of you who are working so hard to find your female ancestors. 


Many of you face this problem when working on your lines. Rub your whiskers, and dig in to this morsel here. The issue is that women usually change their names when they marry. However finding a maiden name is essential to the full development of a family line. The best place to locate a maiden name is on a marriage record. If that is not available, other vital records may have the information. In various times in history, the legal and social status of women has changed much.

So Whiskers suggests you look for the birth certificates of her children, her death certificate, even her husband's death certificate. You may also have luck with the marriage or death certificate of her children. In addition, Baptism records may also contain the mother's maiden name, even in older church records. Look for unual middle names for her children, as naming a child with the Mother's maiden name is often seen. For example, if her son is named, Robert Bolling Jefferson.

You can smile....

Another possible source is her obituary, which might mention surviving brothers. Also look for obituaries of sisters or men you believe are her brothers. Continue to look for wills, as a woman may be mentioned in her father's or mother's will. 


Good Luck, with patience and methodical research, you will succeed!

Today's Colonial Gift

Today's Colonial Gift from Whiskers

Today's byte is especially tasty. It comes from his friend Mortimer who works with a NSDAR Genealogist, most wise. Mortimer told Whiskers that when you are looking to connect family members, look at land records. For in these records you will learn often, that a piece of land was willed to, or sold to a family member. Often times family member will also live nearby as well. Patriots of the American Revolution were often granted 'Land Patents' for their service. Anyone else would have a land deed. So if you are having trouble connecting people as relations, look for their land holdings! Thanks Mortimer!