GENEALOGY

I have been caught up in this addictive hobby of genealogy for fifteen years now and have over the years tried many different ways of dealing with my ever-increasing pile of info and documents. I had tried folders and various types of filing systems; I had even tried my own numbering and coding systems with disasterous consequences; they just didn't work.
In desperation I ordered this book and upon reading it I was truly enlightened. Wow, why hadn't I thought of doing it this way before. The ideas in this book are simple now that I've read it, but they are truly effective. I can now put my finger on any piece of info I require within seconds, which in the past may have taken me anywhere up to two days to find.
This book is a 'must have' for any genealogist, but especially any new genealogist. Become enlightened and organised at the beginning of your venture into family history, don't have to stop in full-flight like I did to tidy up the mess you've left behind you.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy


If you want to learn more about your family, now's the time to start. With the advent of the Internet, there's more information available than ever before, and it's easier to access now than in the good old days of musty libraries and records halls. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy by Rhonda McClure will have you wired and digging up dirt (or gold) in just an hour or two. Even the most ardent computer-hater will have to admit that the search is simpler, and McClure makes the case clearly. Her charming prose is well complemented by online images and hint boxes scattered liberally on each page. Specific sites are mentioned as well as general means of searching for family data, so even if one site disappears you can still get what you need. The book covers the basics of both gathering family data and online searches, so if you're not quite up to speed on one or the other, you can quickly figure it out. After you've browsed a bit and started collecting information, the later chapters help you to communicate with other researchers, mining government records, and even publishing your own results online. It's not hard to learn plenty about your family's history; whether you want to get in touch with your roots, glean medical information to improve your own health, or give your kids something to think about, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy is for you.

Absolutely essential for all American genealogists

The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy

In every field of study there is one book that rises above the rest in stature and authority and becomes the standard work in the field. In genealogy that book is Val Greenwood's Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy. Arguably the best book ever written on American genealogy, it is the text of choice in colleges and universities or wherever courses in American genealogy are taught. Of the dozens of textbooks, manuals, and how-to books that have appeared over the past twenty-five years, it is the one book that is consistently praised for setting a standard of excellence. In a word, The Researcher's Guide has become a classic. While it instructs the researcher in the timeless principles of genealogical research, it also identifies the various classes of records employed in that research, groups them in convenient tables and charts, gives their location, explains their uses, and evaluates each of them in the context of the research process. Designed to answer practically all the researcher's needs, it is both a textbook and an all-purpose reference book. And it is this singular combination that makes The Researcher's Guide the book of choice in any genealogical investigation. It is also the reason why if you can afford to buy only one book on American genealogy in a lifetime, this has to be it. This new 3rd edition incorporates the latest thinking on genealogy and computers, specifically the relationship between computer technology (the Internet and CD-ROM) and the timeless principles of good genealogical research. It also includes a new chapter on the property rights of women, a revised chapter on the evaluation of genealogical evidence, and updated information on the 1920 census. Little else has changed, or needs to be changed, because the basics of genealogy remain timeless and immutable. This 3rd edition of The Researcher's Guide, then, is a clear, comprehensive, and up-to-date account of the methods and aims of American genealogy--an essential text for the present generation of researchers--and no sound genealogical project is complete without it.