Books
Who were the Catholic nuns on your family tree or in your community?
Most families know precious little about the women on their family trees who joined religious life. Historians, too, have largely overlooked the contributions of Catholic women religious (nuns and sisters) to U.S. history, despite their enormous collective impact on the nation’s humanitarian, educational, and social services infrastructure.
Instead, the stories of nuns and sisters are largely forgotten, hidden in scattered archives, obscured by name changes and frequent relocations, fading from family and community memory with each passing generation.
Searching for Sisters is your guide to finding them. You’ll learn:
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Why they can be so elusive
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How to identify a woman’s religious order and locate its archives
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What rich historical and genealogical records may be in the archives
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The path and terminology of religious life
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How to find women religious in other kinds of records (censuses, etc.)
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How to find other people (students, etc.) in their records
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About complicated institutional legacies, such as enslavement and Native American boarding schools
This guide is illustrated with sample documents; indexed; and enriched with detailed case studies by Morton and guest researchers Megan Smolenyak; Margaret M. McMahon, PhD; and Matthew Cross, MLS.
Use this book to discover more about the women who devoted their lives in this unique kind of service. Or use this book to learn more about the students, communities, or other populations associated with the sisters. Their stories are all worth telling. This book shows you how to find them.
See reviews below.
As an archivist for women religious, I regularly meet researchers who assume a sister represents a dead end in their genealogy. This book proves the opposite. Morton offers a clear, practical roadmap for navigating name changes, congregational records, and dispersed archives. She makes what can feel overwhelming entirely approachable.
What resonates most with my professional experience is her emphasis on the richness of women religious archives. These collections are often a treasure trove of family history, filled with entrance records, correspondence, necrologies, sacramental information, photographs, and ministry assignments that illuminate not just the sister’s life, but the wider family story. Time and again, I’ve seen these records become a gateway to deeper connections and unexpected discoveries.
This guide doesn’t just teach research methods; it opens the door to the real joy of encountering a Catholic sister in one’s family history.
Casey Bowser, Archivist
Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill
Greensburg, PA
All genealogists with any Catholic heritage will want to swallow this book as soon as possible. In Searching for Sisters, Sunny unlocks the key to the long-neglected treasure trove of records pertaining to sisters and nuns. You'll learn how to find and request them, what to expect, and how to use what you've discovered to both tell their stories and push your family's research forward. A handful of case studies walk you through the process and reveal the kind of gems that can be uncovered. Add it to your library today!
Megan Smolenyak
Genealogical Adventurer and Storyteller
From the perspective of a professional genealogist, Searching for Sisters is a dream of a reference book--the kind of in-depth guide every genealogist wishes existed for every kind of record. Sunny skillfully lays out the value of researching nuns and sisters for genealogists and does so in an accessible way. Don't let the slim spine fool you; the book is chock full of resources, repositories, historical and religious context, and even case studies demonstrating how the records can be used successfully. Perhaps especially for non-Catholic readers, it is wonderfully educational.
While genealogy is by definition the study of families and lineages, we do ourselves a disservice both as researchers and as human beings in ignoring the stories and contributions of those who were childless either by choice or circumstance. On the whole, women religious may not be our ancestors, but they are and were fascinating people in their own right. It is a helpful bonus that the records they left do often provide evidence about their relatives, which is golden information as well for family historians.
This moving book is sure to come in handy and is a valuable addition to any researcher's shelf.
Katy Bodenhorn
Professional Genealogist
Katy Bodenhorn Genealogy Research, LLC.
"Not only does Ms. Morton give a step-by step account of how to research the elusive, overlooked lives of Catholic nuns and sisters, but she also provides comprehensive background information about their history, community structure, religious formation, and even the terminology specific to religious congregations. Morton’s subject content is so interesting, and her writing style is so engaging that the reader is compelled to 'read one more chapter' before putting down the book.
In addition, Ms. Morton offers suggestions of helpful resources to employ before a family member or other researcher would visit an archive of a particular religious congregation. Finally, the five case studies that conclude the book present the reader with ‘hands-on’ experiences of investigating the lives of actual sisters and serve as illustrations of Morton’s excellent methodology of genealogical research she applies to the lives of Catholic sisters and nuns.”
Sister Cynthia Glavac, OSU, PhD
Director of Archives,
Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland
Searching for Sisters: A Guide to Researching Catholic Nuns in the United States is an easily accessible tool for those who are researching members of their families who have entered religious life, as well as scholars.
As the number of vowed women religious in the United States declines, the archives of religious orders/congregations become even more valuable in uncovering their impact on education, healthcare and social services over the past two centuries.
This guide will aid both the casual researcher and the scholar in accessing the information contained in the archives of religious orders.
Sister Noreen Neary, SC
Director of Archives
Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth
Convent Station, NJ
Searching for Sisters: A Guide to Researching Catholic Nuns in the United States provides an invaluable resource for historians, researchers, archivists, genealogists and anyone else interested in American history.
The stories of these [Sisters]...are a hidden treasure often difficult to access without a knowledgeable guide. This book provides that guidance in a clear, readable, and accessible style. It is a much-needed wayfinding tool into a world of vowed women religious: a tradition that is truly ever ancient, yet ever new, and somewhat enigmatic to those outside it.
With straightforward explanations of customs, terminology, and organizational structures, the book demystifies this distinctive way of life. For those unfamiliar with the life of vowed women religious, the world of the Sisters might seem like a "foreign country." Sunny Jane Morton's book offers a helpful orientation and will be immensely helpful in understanding the vocabulary and lived experience of the women who have chosen a unique and somewhat counter-cultural way of being in the world.
Sister Mary Navarre, OP
Archivist, Dominican Sisters
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Religious records in the United States often reveal unique genealogical details about a wide variety of people, including those underrepresented in other records (women, children, immigrants, people living in enslavement or poverty). But it's not always easy to find your relatives in church records. How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records is a unique, peer-reviewed publication that takes researchers step-by-step through the process of identifying, locating, and gaining access to these genealogical gems. Included are hundreds of links to church research resources, as well as chapters devoted to major Christian denominations before 1900. More than 30 archivists, historians, and genealogical experts contributed to these denominational chapters.
“This is a fantastic resource every genealogist needs on their bookshelf.” – Cari A. Taplin, CG
“I had so much success using her step-by-step guidance that I gave presentations on what I found at both my local elder hostel and my genealogy club. Best genealogy book I ever purchased!” –Donna on “Elevenses with Lisa” YouTube show, episode 41 (chat)
"A 10-star review for this much needed and well-written book.” –George G. Morgan, Genealogy Guys Podcast Episode 369
More reviews below...
Margaret McCrea in Genealogical Forum of Oregon
“The best way to approach this book is to read the first five chapters carefully and completely. They are so useful that I took pages and pages of notes. Sometimes I even put the book down and looked up the resource being discussed right then and there. Imagine my surprise when I found a handwritten record of an early church that I had not previously known about. I didn’t know that this denomination had a national library!"
Peggy Lauritzen, AG,
Always Anxiously Engaged Blog
“…a book that is definitely needed in the genealogy community!…I have taught a Church Records course with the Rev. David McDonald at [the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh], and I wish there had been something like this to help me as I put together my presentations. There have been so many divisions and break-offs from core religions that it can be difficult to trace what you may need back to its original beginnings. This book can help you do that.”
Randy J. Seaver,
Genea-Musings Blog
“This work is well organized, well written by expert genealogists, and very useful for researchers trying to find family history for their ancestral families. Using these records may unlock family stories and mysteries that are only in church records. My opinion is that this book is the best available and most up-to-date resource for this record class, and will be a valuable addition to my family history personal library.”