Books
Searching for Sisters: A Guide to Researching Catholic Nuns in the United States
COMING IN FEBRUARY 2026!
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:
-
Why they can be so elusive
-
How to identify a woman’s religious order and locate its archives
-
What rich historical and genealogical records may be in the archives
-
The path and terminology of religious life
-
How to find women religious in other kinds of records (censuses, etc.)
-
How to find other people (students, etc.) in their records
-
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.
How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records
Religious records in the United States often reveal unique genealogical details about a wide variety of people, including those who are 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.”