Connecting with Our Ancestors

How Did Our Ancestors Connect with Their Ancestors?

Join Daniel Smith, Genealogy Librarian, as he explores the ways that our ancestors may have connected with their ancestors in the latest Cook Memorial Public Library Podcast episode! In the middle of the nineteenth century, a movement known as Spiritualism captured the attention of millions, with large groupings in the Northeast and Midwest. This movement was predominantly led by women, and it gave them a voice to fight for progressive causes like suffrage, emancipation, and temperance. As leaders, they served as mediums who worked to connect folks with their recently deceased relatives and ancestors. Their followers included many famous folks, like Mary Todd Lincoln. As the movement grew, it became more formalized with leaders like Andrew Jackson Davis and camps throughout the country. They also published newspapers, magazines, journals, and directories, and their communities kept records as well. These can be helpful if you think or know you may have a Spiritualist ancestor. If you are unsure, there are sometimes clues on gravestones, in their obituaries, and within census records. To learn more, listen to the full episode: “Connecting with Our Ancestors: A History of Spiritualism for Genealogists.”

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Want to Learn More?

If you are interested in learning more about this movement, there are several options for further reading.

• “Calling the Spirits: Researching the Rise of Spiritualism and Its Genealogical Records” by Debra Dudek (2025)
• “Diverse Communities: Research Spiritualist Ancestors” by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack (2016)
• “From Séances to Quija Boards: Tracing You Spiritualist Ancestor” by David Radford (NGS Magazine, June/July 2004)
• “Séances and the Spirits: The Spiritual Movements and Tracing Family History” by Aryn Youngless (Medium, 2023)
• “Time Capsule: The Spiritualist Movement” by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack (Family Tree Magazine, 2013)

Join us for “Honoring & Connecting with Our Ancestors” on October 30. We will share about historical movements as well as cultural traditions and practices that serve(d) as ways to remember and commune with ancestors. Attendees will also have opportunities to share about the ways that they (or their families) honor or connect with their ancestors.