Last week we wrote about a major new resource for Connecticut genealogy, Linda MacLachlan’s Finding Early Connecticut Vital Records: The Barbour Index and Beyond. MacLachlan shows that Barbour and his staff omitted any number of sources researchers should know about, and her book is the complete inventory of Connecticut vital records. Besides Ms. MacLachlan’s groundbreaking[…]Read more
Year: 2019
“Bogus Stories of Military Ancestors Can Confound Family Historians,” by Richard Hite
(The following article was excerpted from Chapter 7 of Sustainable Genealogy, entitled “Military Service of Ancestors.”) “When I hear of some of the wildly exaggerated claims of the military exploits of my own ancestors and anyone else’s, I am reminded of “The Battle of Mayberry” episode of the Andy Griffith Show. In one episode, Opie’s[…]Read more
Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary, by Martha McCartney
Unprecedented Biographical Dictionary of Early Virginians puts flesh on bare bones of Founders. “On May 13, 1607, Virginia’s first colonists came ashore on what became known as Jamestown Island. The next day, they commenced establishing an outpost they called James Cittie or Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the United States. The 104 colonists[…]Read more
John Grenham’s Tips on Irish Gravestone Inscriptions
The 5th Edition of Tracing Your Irish Ancestors is now available in an extremely handsome hardcover edition at $38.50. In fact, you won’t find the hardcover edition anywhere else but on www.genealogical.com. This price represents a $10.50 reduction from the former paperback edition, which we have discontinued. Author John Grenham is the leading authority on[…]Read more
Major Reference for Connecticut Genealogy
The Barbour Index to Connecticut vital records, created by Lucius B. Barbour, Connecticut Examiner of Public Records from 1922 to 1934, and housed at the Connecticut State Library, is the starting point for researching Connecticut birth, marriage, and death records prior to 1850. The 55-volume Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records published by the[…]Read more
Credentials for Putting Out Your Genealogy Shingle
Are you wondering what to do once you finish tracing your personal family tree? Are you helping someone else (maybe an elderly friend) research his or hers? Have you found your bliss in genealogical detective work, and now you want to take it to the professional level? Maybe even make a career out of it? […]Read more
“The Port of Derry and its Diaspora” By Brian Mitchell
From the late 1600s, in the age of the sailing ships, to the onset of the Second World War in 1939, when the last transatlantic steamer sailed from the port, Derry~Londonderry was one of the principal emigration ports in Ireland. Prior to the coming of the railways and, in the age of sailing ships, from[…]Read more
“Tree Talks” Reviews Progen PPS and History for Genealogists
“Tree Talks” is the journal of the Central New York Genealogical Society, based in Syracuse, New York. The magazine is now in its 59th year of publication, and its contents are followed by researchers from around the U.S. who have New York ancestry. “Tree Talks” reviewed two of our books in recent issues. The March[…]Read more
New Church Record Book Specifies Records of Major Denominations
Another great feature of How to find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records: A Genealogist’s Guide, by Sunny Jane Morton and Harold A. Henderson, is the chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the kinds of records that were kept by the 12 major denominations in the United States as of 1900. For each denomination covered, the authors[…]Read more
Strategies [and Sources] for Using Tax Records, by Emily Anne Croom
“He was excited. Excited and happy, like a dog which has followed a cold trail for a long time, and suddenly finds it a hot one.” Nurse Detective Hilda Adams about Inspector Patton 68 Research in tax records has produced this reaction of excitement for many genealogists and has resulted in many “hot trails.” A[…]Read more