You don’t need to get a law degree to be a genealogist; however, some of the words and phrases used to describe or assess sources can get technical. For example, do you know the difference between a proof argument and a proof statement? How about indirect evidence versus indirect source? And what about negative argument,[…]Read more
In Chapter Four of Genealogy in Reverse: Finding the Living. A Practical Guide for All Genealogists, Cheri Hudson Passey points out that we won’t find all the genealogical records we seek on the Internet. In some cases, we can make real progress if we reach out to actual people who share our ancestry. But who[…]Read more
The Order of the Crown of Charlemagne in the U.S.A. has produced a number of volumes that describe the authorized descendancies of its members. Genealogical.com publishes the first three volumes in this series. In the Preface to Volume I, compiled in 1941 by Marcellus Donald R. von Redlich, the author names the royal personalities through[…]Read more
Judy Jacobson’s masterwork, History for Genealogists: Using Chronological TimeLines to Find and Understand Your Ancestors is crammed with potential clues for family historians. In fact, the book’s subtitle says it all: (1) Historical events can tip off researchers as to the whereabouts and reason why a forebear shows up somewhere, and (2) The same information[…]Read more
Elizabeth Shown Mills latest book, Your Stripped Bare Guide to Citing and Using History Sources fulfills two goals: On the one hand, it replaces Ms. Mills first book on documentation, the 1997 guide to source evaluation and citation, Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian, as a simple, portable text. On the other hand,[…]Read more
Chapter 13 in The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, Fourth Edition, by Val D. Greenwood, provides an excellent overview on the availability and use of vital records (births, marriages, deaths, and divorces) in genealogy research. The author offers a brief history on the keeping of official vital records by various government entities. He then explains[…]Read more
MY GPC LIBRARY, our eBook subscription program, consists of about 800 eBook titles and growing. Subscribers can look for names or places across all our eBooks–not just book by book—in a single search. The platform allows you to set bookmarks, make notes, and add citations as you work. Because you will have access to the entirety of[…]Read more
The British Army did not enlist Irish Catholics during much of the eighteenth century as they were considered likely to be unreliable when they faced the forces of Catholic countries such as France and Spain, which contained many of their countrymen. However, Irish settlers, including those exiled to British colonies, were recruited into local militias,[…]Read more
Virginia’s Northern Neck is comprised of the present-day counties of Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, and Westmoreland. (The oldest records for Richmond County date from its origin as part of Old Rappahannock County.) We have already devoted several issues of “Genealogy Pointers” to descriptions of Dr. Robert K. Headley, Jr.’s magnum opus, Northern Neck of Virginia Pioneers,[…]Read more
Stuart Blandon Traiman, M.D., manages the genealogy blog, Six Generations. In March 2024, he posted a detailed review of the Fourth Edition of Elizabeth Shown Mills’ EVIDENCE EXPLAINED: CITING HISTORY SOURCES FROM ARTIFACTS TO CYBERSPACE. It’s here that Dr. Traiman commented: “Inside the book, there is an entirely new Chapter 3. This chapter simplifies the[…]Read more
