Perhaps surprisingly to many readers, the new royal child—Archie Harrison Mountbatten Windsor–is descended from six of the 970 immigrants to the U.S. treated in Gary Roberts’ two-volume Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants (RD 900). The five the royal baby inherits from the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother or from the late Diana Princess of[…]Read more
Category: Genealogy Tips
Val D. Greenwood on Land Records
The last few issues of “Genealogy Pointers” have addressed land records in one way or another. Before moving on to other topics, we would be remiss if we failed to share the expert advice concerning deeds and other land records that is available in the 4th edition of The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, by[…]Read more
Proof Arguments & Case Studies
We couldn’t have been prouder! It seemed like everybody who visited our booth at the RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, was talking about Professional Genealogy. Preparation, Practice & Standards, edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills. A number of people mentioned that they had signed up for a home study course based on Progen PPS.[…]Read more
New York State Census Substitutes & Selected Name Lists
Bill Dollarhide’s New York State Censuses & Substitutes belongs on the reference shelf of every individual and institution concerned about the Empire State. Why? Three reasons: (1) Census records and name lists for New York are found mostly at the county level, (2) New York State Censuses & Substitutes shows precisely which census records or[…]Read more
Progen PPS explains options for family history writing
Another valuable chapter in Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice & Standards, edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills, illustrates the different ways in which genealogists have structured their published work over the years. Chapter 22, “Crafting Family Histories,” which was written by Michael Leclerc, itemizes seven different formats for family history writing that have appeared over many decades.[…]Read more
“Land Records—More than Mere Conveyances of Real Estate,” by Robert Barnes
Researchers who take the time to go beyond an index to land records may find many items of interest in a particular volume that may have not been indexed by the clerks of the county court. For example, some indices may omit some references, such as depositions and ‘posted wives,’ but one should double check[…]Read more
What Your Relatives Can Tell You about the Great Depression & WWII
As Emily Anne Croom writes in her book, Unpuzzling Your Past. The Best-Selling Basic Guide to Genealogy, “Collecting family history also means trying to fit the family into the history of the community, county, state, and nation. You can find the political, economic, and social history of these areas in books and contemporary newspapers, but[…]Read more
“Who Fired the First Shot,” by Jack Darrell Crowder
The American Revolution commenced with the faceoff between British regulars and the Patriot militia that occurred on April 18, 1775. To this day, no one can say with certainty who fired the first shot in that momentous engagement. Readers can make their own determination, however, thanks to the second of Jack Darrell Crowder’s new books[…]Read more
Finding Your World War I Ancestor
Suppose family legend has it that your great-grandfather served in the Polish army during World War I. If his service records have survived, you assume you will be able to find them without any trouble. In reality, however, it is not quite that simple. Between October 1914 and September 1917, for example, some Polish combatants[…]Read more
New Study Concludes that Teaching Family History to Children Builds Personal Resilience
According to a survey of young people conducted by psychologists at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, “children who know more about their families and family history are more resilient and tend to do better when facing challenges life.” Researchers also learned that youngsters who knew more about their family’s past had more self-confidence and a[…]Read more
“Fair Use” Explained in Carmack’s Guide to Copyright & Contracts
When you find information in a book, article, or online source and you want to quote or paraphrase it in your genealogy, when must you cite the source? If you quote the information and cite the source, can you use as much of the information as you want? The answers to these questions fall under[…]Read more
55 Remarkable Descents, Kinships, or Near Kin-to-Near Kin Genealogical Connections Outlined and Charted in The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies . . .
By Gary Boyd Roberts We’ve written on several occasions about Gary Boyd Roberts amazing two volume work, The Royal Descents 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States(RD 900). This collection of royal lines possessed by North Americans represents Mr. Roberts’ magnum opus, and it is truly the product of a lifetime[…]Read more