QA Forum

Question & Answer

We are discussing Tracing family history
With Antoinette Buchanan, Stephanie Ryan and Jennifer Higgins

Question:
Do you have any advice for creating a matrilineal tree? (Answered by Stephanie)

Answer:
Stephanie - Usually this becomes a specific concern when the researcher has difficulty finding: the mother’s name, her parents’ names and information about her. Women in the past were defined by their husband’s or father’s position. Women may have been described as Mrs Jim Smith or Mrs/Miss Smith so that even their first names may be difficult to find or confirm in documents.

Certificates A first point at which the researcher encounters this problem is often in the attempt to find the maiden name or her parents’ names of a female immigrant. This may be found on a death certificate in the first case or on marriage certificate if the event took place in the eastern coastal States. Dates for which this detail is available vary for the other States. Witnesses listed on the certificates can also often be a clue to the woman’s family. The Adelaide Proformat website provides where the sort of information on certificates may be checked.

Other documentary sources These may name a woman directly or name her by association with others such as family and friends. These documents may include:
* letters, journals and diaries
* obituaries and wills
* photographs
* school records
* cemetery records (burial registers and monumental inscriptions)
* post office directories (where a woman is a widow and/or running a business)
* electoral rolls from the early 20th century
* indexed newspaper items

Check archival sources and libraries for their research sheets and catalogues which may relate to your particular search. Keep records of your sources so that you may check one source against another to determine the most accurate picture.

Be aware of assumptions

* That ages will agree over time These may be changed according to immigration requirements, suitability for a spouse or eligibility for an occupation.

* That names will remain the same Variations may occur because of other preferences, skeletons in the closet, evading legal issues or incorrect records.

* That occupations and circumstances will be consistent Seamen become captains; law clerks become judges and convicts become gentlemen at least in aspirations and on some records if not always in reality.

These are only brief guidelines. Graham Jaunay wrote a useful paper outlining specific strategies and the use of particular records for the 11th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry in Darwin, June 2006 titled ‘The maternal Line’. A copy of the 11th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry Proceedings has been lodged in every State Library.

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