[Just mythoughts]

No kidding. Even worse is visiting family graves and finding “Mother” or “Wife” on the headstone and nothing else for her. It’s sad. I’m quite sure these women had actual names. And a date of birth and death. And yes, it is quite difficult doing genealogy on a lot of women. I’ve dealt with, and so has my dad.

So true, I had forgotten about grave stone markings. I was very fortunate that my grandmother gave me an actual 'program' for her grandfather's burial service. I am thrilled when I can find new nuggets... but some of these women in my ancestry are blank slates, I have so little and keep hitting walls.

[coop71]

Yes! The little nuggets and clues are absolute treasures. The funeral program is not something many would keep for so long. You’re lucky.

My parents recently gave me a large box of what they called “stuff from the garage”. I put it away thinking it was indeed, just stuff. So recently I finally dug through it. It had my grandma’s jewelry and wallet,untouched since her death many many moons ago. It had my grandpa’s gas ration stamps from WWII, photos, cards from my father’s childhood, etc. I spent 2 days going through it all. Priceless.

Newspaper articles that use the title “Mrs. John Smith” instead of the woman’s name is another frustrating path.