Women's History Month and Ancestral Women

Alice, Kathryn, Grace, and Elsie Rownes with their mother Ruth Cornelius in the middle back. 1938, Iowa.

In March, I took part in the Ancestral Women 31-day Challenge (as issued at Genealogy Matters), posting about a woman ancestor each day on Notes. I started with my grandmothers, then went to their mothers, mother-in-laws, sisters, and well-known crossovers in no particular order…I thought I would fill the 31 days somewhat easily.

But in addition to sharing the existence of these women in my tree, this challenge gave me a different look at what I’ve written about them. As far as my own writing on them, only a few have their own biographies - others have been part of less focused lineages, just listing their children. In patriarchal tradition, it’s often “children of dad and mom”. For most, I haven’t written anything about them.

Truth is, I don’t know much about these women’s lives beyond where they are in my tree. I can parse out dates from the vital records, and maybe even know where they’re buried, but who they were? What they did in life? Essentially no clue unless they were living in my lifetime or my parents or grandparents told stories about them.

---

More information on my maternal lineages can be found in My Lineage from the Roots Up, vol. 1 and information on my paternal lineages in volume 2.

---

In case you missed it - Here are the women I included in the March challenge and links to any that have more in-depth information. The others…well, I have work to do.

1. My maternal grandmother

   My Grandmother's Life of Service

2. My Paternal Grandmother, Alice (England) Prater (1917-2002)

3. My aunt

   In Honor of My Godmother

4. My maternal great-grandmother Marie (Demler) Maertz Bowman

5. My other maternal great-grandmother

   My Great-grandmother Ruth (Hackett) Rownes Cornelius (1893-1964)

6. My paternal great-grandmother Cynthia (Hale) England

7. My other paternal great-grandmother Lizzie (Adams) Prater

8. Maternal 2x great-grandmother Emily Esther Lincoln Hackett

   Grandma Emily, the Last Lincoln in the Family

9. Maternal 3x great-grandmother, Emily’s mother-in-law Claretta Marker Hackett

10. Paternal 3x great-grandmother, Lizzie Prater’s mother

    Finding Matilda Kilgore Adams

11. Paternal 4x great-grandmother Obedience “Biddy” Prater

12. Paternal 4x great-grandmother Zilpha Adams Holbrook

13. Paternal 3x great-grandmother Zilpha Adams Prater

    One Zilpha, Two Zilpha, An Adams and a Holbrook

14. Another maternal 2x great-grandmother Ruth (Ricketts) Rownes

15. Maternal 3x great-grandmother Phoebe (O’Neil) Lincoln

16. Distant cousin through Jonah Lincoln, Dr. Julia Minerva Green the pioneering homeopathist from Washington, DC and daughter of one of the builders of the Washington Monument

17. Maternal 5x great-grandmother Nancy (Lee) O’Neil from Northern Ireland

18. Paternal ~7x great-grandmother Ann (Caudill) Adams

19. Paternal 2x great-grandmother Zilpha Jane (Holbrook) Prater

20. Maternal 9x great-grandmother and Salem witch Susannah (North) Martin

21. Paternal aunt Flora Jean (Prater) Himes

22. Maternal great-aunt Dorothy (Rownes) Selby

23. Maternal great-aunt Elsie (Rownes) Way

24. Paternal aunt Juanita (Prater) Meadows-Music

25. Maternal great-aunt Kathryn (Rownes) Vasquez

26. Paternal 3x great-grandmother Rhoda (Spradlin) Holbrook

    Evidence from my Spradlin line

27. Maternal great-aunt Grace (Rownes) Miscione

28. Paternal 2x great-grandmother Mandy (Williams) Adams

29. Maternal 6x great-grandmother Anna Martin Stowell Lincoln

    The Husbands of Anna Martin (b. 1725)

30. Paternal 4x great-grandmother Eliza Crager England

31. Distant paternal ancestor Anna Lovelace Gorsuch

---

Are you related to anyone on this list?