The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec or the United States. Second Edition, by Gary Boyd Roberts is remarkable in a number of ways. Obviously, it documents nearly 1,000 lines of North Americans who can claim royal ancestors—more than any other publication. The Introduction to this new three-volume edition is nearly[…]Read more
Category: Genealogy Tips
Philadelphia: The Irish Gateway to America, by Brian Mitchell
Between 1717 and the beginning of the War of American Independence in 1776, 250,000 Scots-Irish, often referred to as Ulster-Scots in Ireland (i.e. Protestant settlers in the nine counties of the Province of Ulster) left Ulster, through the ports of Belfast, Londonderry, Newry, Larne and Portrush, for North America. The Scots-Irish tended to enter North[…]Read more
Generation by Generation Not Just for Beginners
Last week we introduced our new genealogy beginner’s book, Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy, by Drew Smith. Generation by Generation is divided into two parts. Part I of Drew’s book (“For All Generations-Preparing to Research”) discusses family relationships, naming practices, genealogy software, existing research, and DNA testing. Part II[…]Read more
Royal News Since the Release of Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, and the United States. 2nd Edition, by Gary Boyd Roberts. PART TWO
(Part One of this article can be found HERE) In early November 2022, various scholars learned of and purchased Weston Pedigree Reconsidered: A Review of Documentation Provided by the College of Arms (2022) by Shawn Henry Potter and Lois Carol Potter. In a much earlier form, parts of this monograph were submitted to the New[…]Read more
“Citing Titles: Basic Rules,” by Elizabeth Shown Mills
[Excerpted from Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, 3d ed. rev. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2017), pp. 52–53, §2.22–2.23.] “Six basic rules govern our citation of titles, regardless of the type of record or publication we are using: 1) BOOK, CD, DVD, JOURNAL, MAP, WEBSITE, ETC. For published stand-alone[…]Read more
Early Spanish Handwriting Book a Must for 16th-early 19th-Century Records
According to the Pew Research Center, “The U.S. Hispanic population reached 62.1 million in 2020, accounting for 19% of all Americans and making it the nation’s second largest racial or ethnic group, behind White Americans and ahead of Black Americans, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It is also one of the fastest growing groups in[…]Read more
Hispanic Family Histories
Most genealogists know—or learn belatedly—that they should be on the lookout for existing accounts of their ancestors, whether published in a printed book or online. While the information in older books about any family must be examined for possible errors and their findings compared against original sources, published family histories frequently save the genealogist much[…]Read more
Book Lays Out Ground Rules for Determining Native American Ancestry
DNA for Native American Ancestry, by Roberta Estes, begins by discussing fundamental issues involved in establishing Native American heritage. The author first defines the concept of “indigenous people.” She then answers questions like “Can DNA Results Identify a Tribe?” and “Can I Join a Tribe?”. Another section covers the requirements and benefits of tribal membership,[…]Read more
GENERATION BY GENERATION Teaches Genealogists How to Make Greater Use of Library Resources
As we have noted previously Drew Smith, the author of our how-to book Generation by Generation, is a highly trained librarian as well as an accomplished genealogist. Readers of his book are destined to learn about the wealth of information that could lead them to hard-to-find ancestors by utilizing library and archival sources. To illustrate[…]Read more
Groundbreaking Book for Genealogists with Hispanic Roots
English-speaking researchers and historians working with a Spanish-language document face two hurdles—understanding the handwriting and vocabulary, and grasping the record’s institutional, historic, social, and cultural context. This book’s unique and detailed content fills both needs. With images, charts, transcribed documents and in-depth commentary, Mastering Spanish Handwriting and Documents: 1520-1820 addresses fundamental handwriting concepts and challenges[…]Read more
“If Your Ancestor Owned Land, Then There’s a Deed,” by William Dollarhide
Dollarhide’s Genealogy Rule #23: Locating the county where your ancestor lived is the first step in finding records about the time he was hauled into court for shooting his neighbor’s dog, threatening the census taker with a shotgun, or making illegal corn whiskey behind the barn. A 90-Percent Chance Since the first colonists came to[…]Read more
Royal News Since the Release of Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, and the United States. 2nd Edition, by Gary Boyd Roberts. PART ONE
After the new edition of The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants went to press, HM Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain (see pp. 3, 4, 41, 321, 323, 546, 930, 1058, 1067, 1081, 1723) died 8 September 2022, aged 96. Her eldest son, HRH Prince Charles Philip Arthur George (now 73), previously Prince of Wales, became HM[…]Read more