This course will help you reclaim women's stories by providing resources and strategies for finding maiden names, understanding relevant law, uncovering material and written culture left behind, and using mitochondrial DNA to trace maternal lines.
Free Guide: Getting Started with Newfoundland and Labrador Research
Genealogical research in Newfoundland and Labrador is complicated by record loss and inadequate record-keeping practices, which create significant gaps in documentation. Family stories, local knowledge, and community traditions may provide information not found in official records. This guide provides tips on how to best research your ancestors in Canada’s easternmost province. Download Today
August Membership Sale
Get $25 off your new membership at American Ancestors! Our membership offers access to billions of searchable names on our website, a subscription to American Ancestors magazine, discounts on books and research for hire, and more. Use code Aug26 at checkout. Offer ends August 31. Join Now
The Weekly Genealogist Survey
This Week's Survey:
Hobbies in Common with Your Ancestors
Share your story! Each week in our Readers Respond column, we publish a selection of reader-submitted stories related to our most recent survey. Submissions must be 150 words or fewer and include your full name, city, and state. Published responses will be edited for clarity and length.
67%, Yes, at least one of my ancestors or relatives was named for a notable figure.
4%, I was named for a notable figure.
32%, No, I don’t think any of my ancestors or relatives were named for a notable figure.
Readers Respond
Bryce Self, Tulsa, Oklahoma: My ancestor James Foster Gaines (1805-1853) of Scott County, Arkansas, was such an ardent admirer of Andrew Jackson that he was determined to name his son after the former president. However, child turned out to be a girl, who was unfortunately saddled for life with the awkward name of Andrewsia Jacksonia Gaines.
Eben W. Graves, Brunswick, Maine: My great-great-grandfather George Popham Sewall (1811–1881) of Old Town, Maine, was named after George Popham (1550–1608). George Popham was the leader of the 1607 expedition that founded Popham Colony—the first English settlement in New England—on the Kennebec River in Maine. Popham led about 120 people on two ships, including the Gift of God, which he captained. After George Popham’s death in 1608, the disheartened settlers returned to England. Sewall achieved some prominence as a member and speaker of the Maine House of Representatives.
Lynn R. Sprankle, Topton, Pennsylvania: My paternal grandfather, Garfield Abraham Sprankle (1882-1935), was named for two assassinated US presidents. By strange coincidence, my grandfather was attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901, when President McKinley was shot by Leon Czolgosz.
Charmaine Cave Dersham, Poestenkill, New York: My maternal great-great-grandparents Samuel and Clarissa Adelia (Benedict) Clark of Clark's Green, Pennsylvania, named their third son, born October 28,1864, Abraham Lincoln Clark. On July 15, 1867, they named their next son (my great-grandfather) George Washington Clark. On August 7, 1869, six months after the inauguration of President Ulysses S. Grant, Samuel and Clarissa named their next son Grant Ulysses Clark.
John Dupré, Laconia, New Hampshire: My great-great-grandmother, born in Kristinestad, Finland in 1835, was named Maria Antonnetta Lundholm. Why a Finnish Lutheran was named for a Catholic former queen of France who was guillotined 42 years earlier is a mystery.
David Dean, San Francisco, California: My fourth great-grandfather Elhanan Winchester Bates, born December 12, 1799, in Dudley, Massachusetts, was named for renowned theologian Elhanan Winchester, an early leader of American Universalism. Bates named his eldest son Elhanan Winchester as well.
Cathy Orfall, Hood River, Oregon: My third great-grandparents Thomas Joseph Chipman (1811-1885) and Dolly Brown Durgin Chipman (1813-1864) of Newbury, Massachusetts, named three of their sons after abolitionists Charles Sumner, Thomas Parnell Beach, and Horace Mann. Charles Sumner Chipman (1853-1930) became a shoemaker in Boston, Thomas Parnell Beach Chipman (1842-1916) served in the Civil War and became a farmer, and Horace Mann "Chip" Chipman (1851-1927) went west to Montana to work as a carpenter.
Richard F. Larkin, Vienna, Virginia: My great-grandfather William Harrison Larkin had a twin brother named Henry Harrison Larkin. The brothers were born one month after the sudden, unexpected death of President William Henry Harrison. It does not take Sherlock Holmes to figure out why those first and middle names were chosen.
The city of Lawton, seat of Comanche County, is located in southwestern Oklahoma. Lawton has made a burials database for Highland Cemetery available on its website. More than ninety percent of the 16,000 monuments in the cemetery have been photographed and uploaded. The database can be searched by first and/or last name. In addition to a gravestone photograph, search results include deceased’s name, year of birth, year of death, and military recognition. Additional genealogy resources are available through the Lawton Public Library’s Family & Local History webpage. Search Now
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As a family historian, you know that wills are important in your research—but have you created a will for yourself? Free Will, an easy and free online will creation tool, will guide you step-by-step through identifying beneficiaries for your assets, supporting the causes that are important to you, and planning for the preservation of your research. Learn More
