This is an election year, and we have been hearing a lot of news that talks about the genealogy of various candidates and political figures. What we don’t hear as much about is the family tree, or genealogy, of the women who are, or were, a First Lady. There are plenty of books out, right now, that will tell you more about the lives of these important women.
Michelle Obama is the current First Lady. You probably have heard about her efforts to get children to eat healthier, and to engage in more frequent physical activity. Genealogists might be interested in knowing more about her family tree.
There is a new book called “American Tapestry: The Story of Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama”. It was written by Rachel Swarns, who is said to have restored the missing branches to the First Lady’s “elusive family tree”. The book gives information about Michelle Obama’s black, white, and multiracial ancestors, and reveals the identity of her great-great-great grandfather, who was white. The information is connected to the context of what was going on in America at different times.
Another book talks about the life of Mary Lincoln. The book is called “Mrs. Lincoln: A Life” and it was written by Catherine Clinton. The author draws on new research in order to illustrate the life of Mary Lincoln. It talks about her early life in an aristocratic Kentucky family, and her experience becoming a Northern wife, (something thousands of other women did at that time). The book talks about her life as the First Lady, and how her husband’s assassination affected her. This book will interest genealogists who have a female ancestor who lived during the Civil War.
There is also a book called “Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years”. It was written by Barbara Leaming. The book draws from recently declassified top-secret material in order to discover what it was like to be Mrs. John F. Kennedy. There are eyewitness accounts, Secret Service records, and letters that were written by Jacqueline Kennedy herself. The book goes over some of her childhood, too.
Image by U.S. Department of Agriculture on Flickr