Wichita Public Library

Beyond Names and Dates

Filling in the Stories of our Female Ancestors

Women have stories to tell. Explore a variety of records and use local history, the law, politics, and the cataclysmic events that confronted them to help us bring their hidden stories to light.

For most of recorded time, women didn’t leave much of a paper trail, but they still had remarkable stories to tell. Although it may appear that they haven’t left any documents behind, deeper research into underutilized records will often lead to a better understanding of the women in our family trees. In this talk, we’ll explore a variety of records, and also look at local history, the law, politics, and the cataclysmic events that confronted them to help us bring their hidden stories to light.

Bio: Speaker Pam Vestal is a professional genealogist and speaker who turned her focus to her longtime love of genealogy after a 20-year writing career. Her articles have appeared in the National Genealogical Society Magazine and The Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, and her lectures take her from coast to coast. Pam specializes in conducting genealogical research and then transforming that information into illustrated stories that even non-genealogists can enjoy.