The female line in family history typically follows a mother’s surname back – which then automatically goes into her father, and his father before him, and so on. Your matrilineal line follows your mother, then her mother, then her mother and so on, following the female line each time rather than a particular surname. It is available with either a male or a female person as the root person in the research.

While this “goes against the grain” of traditional genealogy, it is no less valid than the male aspect of your lineage, as you share 50% of your genes with women – and women have at least an equal influence in passing on personality, family traits, professions, information and family stories.

The surnames of women are often not recorded before c1800, as the nature of many historical documents is skewed towards patriarchal society – women were first the property of their fathers, and then their husbands, and were recorded as such. Therefore, the matrilineal line can sometimes be trickier to trace, and requires access to more birth, marriage and death certificates than a traditional male/surname line, which is reflected and included in the price of this package. The matrilineal package will trace the female line as back as far as it can go.