06 November 2012

Today is Election Day! What About Our Ancestors, Their Party Affiliations and Voting?



Today is election day!  Many of us have and will voted in this elections!  Have you researched your ancestors and their participation in elections?

Here are some resources on how we might research our ancestors and their involvement in elections.

  1. How Did Great-Grandfather Vote? [article in PDF]
  2. The Daily Genealogist: Ancestral Political Affiliations [blog post]
  3. Examining Ancestors With A Political Eye [blog post]
  4. Did My Ancestors Vote [Genealogy About.com]

Some other thoughts on determining your ancestor’s political affiliation ...

·    Children's names may provide an answer.
·    Look in the newspaper. Some newspapers clearly had a political-affiliation and a mention of your ancestor in it or his subscription to it may tell you a lot about him!
·    What clubs did your ancestor belong to?

Don’t forget to check out the laws on “who” could vote!  Though emancipation freed the slaves, it didn’t guarantee them the vote?  When did women become eligible? How about your immigrant ancestor?

Also consider whether you ancestor ran for office.  I had a great uncle who did and it was fun to learn more about what office he ran for, the election results and much more!

What resources have helped you learn more about your ancestor, elections and voting?



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to [email protected]. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to [email protected]

No comments:

Post a Comment