How Do You Identify As Trans On Your Family Tree?

One of the on again-off again projects I work on in my spare time is compiling family history.   Since my mom is the family historian it has devolved to me the eldest child and my sis Latoya in terms of keeping things and the stories straight as to who is related to who and how

Mom compiles the family reunion photo albums that travel with her when we attend our rotating annual late June family reunion that moves between the Texas branch of the family in Dallas and Houston, Indiana, Ohio, Mississippi and Florida..

I've taken on the project of handling the family trees. When I was compiling the one for my father's side of the family in the late 90's, I was fortunate to stumble across detailed information that my great grandmother Jane wrote down in a family Bible my late grandmother Tama kept.  She was a schoolteacher and was diligent about accurately compiling a family tree that helped me trace that side back to just after the Civil War ended.  

I remember how emotional I got in 1999 when I was two hours into searching through 1910 Census records at Houston's Clayton Genealogical Library and I found her.  I cried for five minutes because she died in childbirth as a twentysomething woman and it felt like I was reaching out and touching her for that brief moment.   

Finding my great grandmother also revealed some then unknown to me info about my great-great grandmother being born in Kentucky.   I didn't know what county she was born in and that's still to be determined, but little did I know that familial information would come in handy. 

During my time I was living in the Bluegrass State I had someone who disagreed with me try to call me an 'outsider' during a 2003 community meeting and I verbally pimp slapped them with the fact my great-great grandmother was born in the state..    

Knowing how important family trees are to future generations and giving you a sense of knowing who you are, where your family has been and where you've come from, in the context of compiling mine I have an interesting conundrum to consider.

What do you do and how do you record it when a family member has transitioned?

I've looked on various genealogical websites trying to get an answer to that question, but have yet to see it addressed or even asked.   

So what did I do to handle it?  I listed myself under Monica, but put a 'born as' note with my old name and 'transitioned in 1994'.

A family tree is history, and you should treat it like you do when you disclose your medical history to your doctor.  Be honest and as accurate as possible. 

I'm proud of the person I've become, I'm still evolving to be, what I have and hopefully will continue to accomplish.  The reality is I spent a few years on the other side of the gender fence.  I'm not ashamed of being a transwoman and have no problem with future generations in my family knowing that.   

You never know.  75 to 80 years from now one of your great-great nieces or nephews or a great-great grandchild may one day be trying to sort through the data from the 1990, 2000 or 2010 census attempting to reconcile it against the family tree they have.

Don't deny future ancestors that joy of discovery  simply because you may have issues about the fact you were born on the other side of the gender fence and whether we like it or not, have a paper trail inside and outside the family that will reveal that point.