"This book is the first in a series that illustrates how invisible women can be in family history. It is used to tell the author’s story as well as using the stories of her mother and grandmothers, maternal and paternal, and their forebears as examples of reading the women between the lines. Historical research, family stories, and documentation merge together to paint pictures of women that were, holding their families together while simultaneously being labeled as having no occupation, no work, and no productive livelihood. As there are few documents to show women’s lives, they are unknown to history, their lives are secluded behind their husbands if married and often erased if not. As the author built her family tree, it seemed to that the women were ignored. Their stories were hidden behind the patrilineal family tree and secondary, only important because of the children they produced. Some history will always be lost with the passage of time; this text is a lesson on how to read the women and find herstory"--