Digging up stories throughout the process of writing Jordan’s Journey is one of the most interesting aspects of the project. I discovered many little details about my ancestors that helped me gain insight into their lives and personalities. I particularly enjoyed learning about the women. Women often don’t get their due in genealogy because we live in a patriarchal society. Sometimes, maiden names get lost, and you may not even know the family any given female ancestor comes from (I have several of these in my tree). I was, however, lucky enough to uncover quite a bit about some of my women ancestors, such as Caroline Pracilla Young (a brave pioneer who lost a husband and five children but kept going for her two surviving sons) or Margaret Lawrence (a rare matriarch whose children took her name–not that of their father). You can read about both of these women in Jordan’s Journey. But now I want to talk about a more distant female connection.

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