"Through Her Eyes" Thursday - My Female Ancestors

Diane has introduced us  to a new genealogy prompt  "Through Her Eyes" Thursday aimed at us writing from the perspective of our female ancestors. 

The theme  so happens  to tie in with my "Fresh Start" resolution for my 2020 family history activity -  to focus on my  grandmothers  and beyond, and bring them out of the shadows  of their menfolk

I have no journals or diaries to share, so it was a question of reviewing and developing  my research.  That highlighted major gaps and made me ponder on the question:  

HOW WELL DO WE ACTUALLY KNOW OUR FEMALE ANCESTORS?

The further we go back in family history, the more shadowy our ancestors can appear - especially on the female side, where we don't often have the knowledge of an occupation to define the person.

So here is my list of my female ancestors, with their their dates.
My major brick wall is in tracing the background of my maternal grandmother, as I have not even been able to find a birth certificate. So that immediately reduced the number of female ancestors that I could list:

Mother

• Kathleen Weston, nee Danson (1908-1999) 

 Grandmothers

• Alice Danson, nee English (1884-1945) - my major brick wall as I have been unable to trace any record of her birth or baptism. 

 

Mary Barbara Weston, nee Matthews (1876-1958)

Great Grandmothers 

• ? English - ?

• Maria Danson, nee Rawcliffe (1859-1919) 

•  Matilda Matthews, nee Simpson (1849-?) 

•  Sarah Ann Weston, nee Jones (c.1852- ?)

Great Great Grandmothers

• Jane Rawcliffe, nee Carr (1819-1865) 
•  Elizabeth Danson, nee Calvert (1811-1879) 
• Anne Weston, nee Walker (1829-1881)
• Matilda Simpson, nee  Such (1815-?)
• Elizabeth Matthews, nee Palmer 
• ? Jones - ? 
  
• No Alice English ancestors traced. 
  

Great Great Great Grandmothers 

• Anne (Nanny) Rawcliffe, nee Moon (1789-1822) 
  
• Jane Carr, nee Crane - ? 
• Elizabeth Danson, nee Brown (1766-1840)  
• Grace Calvert, nee Harrison - ?
• Elizabeth Walker, nee ? 
• Matilda Such, nee Bloomer ?  
• ? Matthews ? 
• No Alice English ancestors traced 
  

Great Great Great Great Grandmothers

• Margaret Danson, nee Fayle. (1730-1815), aged 85 
• Jane Crane - ?
• Alice Moon, nee Carter - ?
• Betty Calvert, nee Threlfall - ?
• Alice Brown, nee Clegg - ? 

Some ancestors have featured prominently on my blog, notably my grandmother Alice English and my great grandmother Maria Danson  (nee Rawcliffe), so I shall be beginning this new challenge with  my older female ancestors - Watch this Space! 

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