With the New Year now upon us, we wanted to take this opportunity to recall our major publications of 2023. In case you missed some of our announcements, here are the highlights:
- Launch of our new eBook subscription platform, MY GPC LIBRARY
- New guidebook for genealogy beginners and researchers who can use a tune-up
- Groundbreaking work for understanding colonial-era Spanish handwriting
- 2nd edition of Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants by Gary Boyd Roberts
- New edition of preeminent guide to Ohio sources
- Several new works for Scottish, Welsh, Irish, and Northern Irish research
- Three new books by Jack Crowder on the American Revolution
Here are brief descriptions of all of our key books of 2023. You’ll also find links to more detailed accounts of each.
MY GPC LIBRARY
We have placed our nearly 800 eBook titles on this exciting new online platform. For the first time, subscribers can look for names or places across all our eBooks–not just book by book—in a single search. MY GPC LIBRARY consists of most of our how-to books and other guidebooks, and the collection is also very strong on families who arrived in North America prior to 1800. The new platform allows you to set bookmarks, make notes, and add citations as you work. Because you will have access to the entirety of every book, you can search for relatives or find neighbors of your ancestors to add context to your family history. And if you travel for your research, you can work remotely or online, and things still stay in sync.
When you subscribe to MY GPC LIBRARY, you get access to the electronic equivalent of a $40,000 library of outstanding genealogy reference books! Now, with our enhanced search features, you will have unmatched access. Learn More
GENERATION BY GENERATION: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy
By Drew Smith
For this novel beginner’s guide, Mr. Smith has organized the chapters according to the actual process used in genealogical research: Start with yourself, move on to living relatives, and then move backwards, generation by generation. Each chapter describes a time period and the records available for that era. This book makes ample use of consecutive Internet screen shots to take the mystery out of online searching. Learn More
MASTERING SPANISH HANDWRITING AND DOCUMENTS, 1520–1820
By George R. Ryskamp, Peggy Ryskamp & H. Leandro Soria
With images, charts, transcribed documents and in-depth commentary, this work addresses fundamental handwriting concepts and challenges relevant to Spanish-language documents. Forty-two transcribed and translated Spanish-language documents form the book’s showpiece, adding depth and personality to the text. Learn More
THE ROYAL DESCENTS OF 900 IMMIGRANTS to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States Who Were Themselves Notable or Left Descendants Notable in American History. SECOND EDITION. In Three Volumes.
By Gary Boyd Roberts
Most Americans with sizable New England Yankee, mid- Atlantic Quaker, or Southern “planter” ancestry are descended from medieval kings—kings of England, Scotland, and France especially. This book tells you how. Outlined on 1,084 pages of charts are the best royal descents of 993 immigrants. To the 2018 edition this work adds over 23 new immigrants; changes (usually improving the lines) a dozen more; adds various British and Continental items of interest, and includes all new royal descents known to the author through mid-2022. Learn More
GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH IN OHIO. New 3rd Edition
By Kip Sperry
This completely revised version of Kip Sperry’s classic 2003 Second Edition examines the holdings of major Ohio archives and libraries and focuses on many resources available to researchers, covering everything from census records to church records, from periodicals to probates, from tax records to town records, from Internet resources to military records, from ethnic records to newspapers, from land and court records to vital records, and much more. The book’s vast bibliography of Ohio books, moreover, is a comprehensive survey of Ohio printed genealogical sources, as well as an extensive list of public and other libraries in the state. Learn More
IRISH EMIGRANTS TO NORTH AMERICA: Consolidated Edition. Parts One to Ten
By Dr. David Dobson
This consolidated edition brings together all ten Parts of David Dobson’s series, Irish Emigrants in North America. A comprehensive index of names has been added to facilitate the reader’s search through all ten Parts. Moreover, the index identifies the many other Irish persons named in the emigrant profiles who could be overlooked by merely consulting the alphabetical arrangement of emigrants. While compiling the series, the author consulted reference material located in archives and libraries in the United States, Canada, Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies. The author has arranged the list of roughly 8,500 emigrants alphabetically in each of the ten parts of this work by the individual’s surname and, in the majority of cases, provides most of the following particulars: age, name of ship, occupation in Ireland, reason for and the source of the information. Sometimes the entries also specify the emigrant’s place of origin in Ireland, place of disembarkation in the New World, date of arrival, and names or number of other persons in the household. Learn More
GENEALOGY AT A GLANCE: WELSH GENEALOGY RESEARCH
By John Rowlands & Beryl Evans
John Rowlands and Beryl Evans are the two leading authorities on Welsh family history. In just a few pages they have boiled down the basics of that subject for the novice, or someone seeking a quick refresher course. In merely four laminated pages—the equivalent of a 10-page journal article—the authors cover the historical background to Welsh genealogy, the crucial importance of Welsh names and naming practices, the country’s major religious denominations, emigration, and the key genealogical sources. The latter topic, of course, is the focal point of the publication, and here the authors drill down into parish registers, bishop’s transcripts, marriage bonds, census records, probate records, tithe maps (showing the payments charged on land users), and newspapers. A separate section covers the key online sources for Welsh genealogy. Learn More
SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW GEORGE WASHINGTON: Stories They Didn’t Tell You in School
By Jack Darrell Crowder
Who was George Washington? Where does the myth of the man end, and the truth begin? For example, did you know that Washington had a great sense of humor? As President, why didn’t Washington like to shake hands? What gift did he accept from Spain that changed American farming forever? Did you know that, at one time, Washington was the leading moonshiner in the country? Why is it believed that the Washingtons had no children of their own? What other eligible women did Washington pursue prior to his marriage? This book answers these and dozens more questions, as told by the men and women who knew Washington personally. Learn More
VICTORY OR DEATH: Military Decisions that Changed the Course of the American Revolution
By Jack Darrell Crowder
In Victory of Death, Mr. Crowder explores the impact of the major leadership decisions that influenced the eventual outcome of that war. Each chapter in Victory or Death provides a summary of specific events that were key to the War’s outcome (Washington’s spy ring, Battle of Saratoga, etc.). At the conclusion of every chapter, the author reviews the decisions, for good or ill, that led to the result. Victory of Death concludes with the author’s endnotes, a bibliography, and a detailed index. Learn More
THE STORY OF YORKTOWN: Told by the Men Who Were There
By Jack Darrell Crowder
In the siege of Yorktown, nearly 30,000 American, French, British, and German troops faced each other in a winner take all battle. In The Story of Yorktown, Revolutionary War expert Jack Darrell Crowder provides a day-by-day account of that siege as told by the participants in their journals, diaries, memoirs, pension applications, and letters, as well as in contemporary newspapers. Learn More
The Covenanters of Scotland, 1638-1690
By Dr. David Dobson
The Wars of the Covenant occurred between 1639 and 1651, when Scotland and England were two independent countries, though both were subject to King Charles I. The cause of the Covenanter movement lay in the attempts of the Stuart kings to impose Anglicanism on a basically Presbyterian Church of Scotland and to make the Stuart kings head of the Church of Scotland in line with their position in the Church of England. In this new work, Dr. David Dobson has identified nearly 2,500 Covenanters by name, verdict, date and vessel of banishment, place of exile, often additional particulars about the individual, and the source of the information. Learn More
IRISH SOLDIERS IN COLONIAL AMERICA, ca. 1650-1825
By Dr. David Dobson
This volume attempts to identify many of the Irish soldiers in the British colonies in North America and the Caribbean from around 1650 until 1825. Irish settlers in colonial America were recruited into local militias. During the American Revolution people of Irish origin could be found in both Loyalist and Patriot units, including the “Volunteers of Ireland”. In the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo the British government settled substantial numbers of demobilised soldiers, including Irishmen, in Canada. From about 1780 onwards the British regiments enlisted at least one-third of their recruits in Ireland; this increased to about 40% by the early 19th century. Learn More
THE BOOK OF ULSTER SURNAMES. Revised Edition
By Robert Bell
Mr. Bell gives the meaning and history of each Ulster surname, its original form, where it came from – Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales or France – and why it changed to what it is today. The index provides nearly 3,000 surnames and variant spellings, cross-referenced to the main listing. The book includes notes on some famous bearers of the name and where in Ulster the name is now most common.
This new edition also includes an article by the author on the Riding Clans of the Scottish Boarders, many members of which came to Ulster during the Plantation. The result is a reference book that details much about the history of the Ulster Irish as well as the Scottish and English who arrived from the 17th century onwards and is packed with surprising insights into the origins of a complex, turbulent people. Learn More
