“Genealogy Pointers” continues with its practice of excerpting sections from Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice & Standards (Progen PPS), edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills. Today we have lifted the beginning pages of Chapter 12, “Reasoning from Evidence,” which was prepared by Dr. Thomas W. Jones. We are sure you will agree that even in these scant[…]Read more
One of the best things about the fourth edition of The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy is that it not only tells you about the records and where to find them, but it also cautions you about the blind alleys and dead ends you may encounter along the way. Here are a few cautionary tips[…]Read more
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
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
Aha! Seminars, Inc.®, the producer of The Genealogy Guys Podcast, the Genealogy Connection podcast, and The Genealogy Guys Blog, is pleased to announce the launch of Genealogy Guys Learn (genealogyguyslearn.com), a subscription-based educational website designed to provide genealogy courses and videos for researchers of all skill levels. At its launch, Genealogy Guys Learn consists of text/image-based courses[…]Read more
You may be a satisfied owner of The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States (RD 900), or you may be considering acquiring a set of these marvelous books. Either way, you may appreciate the following suggestions from author and expert genealogist Gary Boyd Roberts on how[…]Read more
“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
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
Writing in the Introduction to her recent volume, Finding Early Connecticut Vital Records: The Barbour Index and Beyond, author Linda MacLachlan explains the scope of her ten-year study thusly: “This book goes beyond the Barbour Index by adding six more towns to create a bibliography for all 149 Connecticut towns incorporated by 1850. It also[…]Read more
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
(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
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
