In recent issues of “Genealogy Pointers,” we have highlighted Angus Baxter’s In Search of Your German Roots. Fifth Edition. Besides Baxter’s description of German history’s impact on its genealogy sources, equally informative chapters in the Fifth Edition cover German genealogy websites, German-Jewish records, the German records of the LDS Church, the archives of Germanic genealogy,[…]Read more
The term “Scots-Irish” refers to the descendants of the Scottish emigrants who migrated to the Irish Province of Ulster at the behest of the English crown. The Plantation of Ulster by Scots beginning in 1606 is a well-known established fact. While most of settlers were from the Scottish Lowlands, some, especially in the late sixteenth[…]Read more
The following article was adapted from the Introduction to Mr. Coldham’s definitive account of the claims awarded to American colonists by the British crown following the Revolutionary War. For more information about events leading to the establishment of the American Claims Commission, as well as thousands of Loyalist sketches of the claimants themselves, see Mr.[…]Read more
Did you know that the Navajo and related tribes migrated from Northwest Canada and present-day Alaska to present-day Arizona and New Mexico, and ultimately southeastern Utah, roughly 600 years ago? Would it surprise you to learn that the indigenous people of Hawaii are closely related to indigenous people of the Pacific Islands, Polynesia, Australia, and[…]Read more
[The second part of this article is condensed from the chapter by the same name in the 5th Edition of Mr. Baxter’s classic how-to book, In Search of Your German Roots. Readers should note that, in the interest of brevity, a number of tables in the book which describe the migration and distribution of the[…]Read more
Now in its 7th Edition, the International Vital Records Handbook (IVRH) has always provided researchers with a convenient, current source of application forms for ordering birth, marriage, death, and divorce certificates for decades. The 7th Edition has all the forms and/or addresses researchers need, but it also has been expanded to include information available in[…]Read more
The settlement of the Canadian Province of Ontario began in earnest following the American Revolutionary War. As most U.S. genealogists know, thousands of Loyalists left our new nation after the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781, for the shores of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River in Canada. Until that time, and the with[…]Read more
The earliest newspapers in the United States were published starting in 1720. Printing presses were heavy and had to be imported from England. Happy was the colony that could have its own newspaper. Newspapers printed local news, news from other colonies, but news from Europe often occupied the front page. Marriages and deaths of local[…]Read more
[This article is condensed from the chapter by the same name in the 5th Edition of Mr. Baxter’s classic how-to book, In Search of Your German Roots. Readers should note that, in the interest of brevity, a number of tables in the book which describe the migration and distribution of the German population and the[…]Read more
Roberta Estes, author of DNA for Native American Genealogy, has written the following about Canada’s “First Nations.” “The Canadian government recognizes 634 First Nations bands who are similar to tribes in the United States, although the membership criteria is different. These bands comprise more than 2% of Canadian residents. “Like in the United States, benefits[…]Read more
As we reported in December, Paul Heinegg’s new book, List of Free African Americans in the American Revolution: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Delaware (Followed by French and Indian Wars and Colonial Militias), presents the service or pension records of nearly 1,000 free African Americans who served in the War for Independence from[…]Read more
Brian Mitchell’s New Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy is a wonderful combination of how-to book, guide to sources, and case studies–in only 120 pages. It’s expert genealogist Mitchell’s contention that the most important sources for Irish genealogy are the civil registers of births, marriages, and deaths; church registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials; gravestone inscriptions;[…]Read more
