Genealogy Books

If you have German ancestors in the Hudson River Valley prior to 1800 this is one of the most detailed and comprehensive books available. Over 800 familes included often with 3-4 generations of information including orgins back in German often with 2-3 more generations of information. One of the best sourced books available. Henry Jones is to be commendend for this important work. I have at least 12 family groups listed in this book and was lucky to have it provide in two volumes a huge amount of information directly to related to me. Others may not have so many connections here but if you believe you have even one or two this book will most certainly provide you much information. It also is a valuable read just for the introduction which provide many good tips on researching German famlies in the area and in Pennsylvania.

One of the most useful books for genealogist who have Palatine ancestors in New York. Can't praise it enough.

The southern states east of the Mississippi were in a territory that was for a long time under Spanish or Indian jurisdiction. By law, only persons issued passports were allowed to enter the southeastern territories, and so the passport records have the largest body of data relating to the pioneers to the Southeastern United States.

Dorothy W. Potter spent eight years doing research in the records of the War Department, the State Department, the archives of the individual states, as well as records of the Spanish and the British in West Florida. So she has assembled a complete collection of the passports and travel documents issued to individuals and families going to the Mississippi Valley area from Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Never again can genealogists complain that research in the Old South is hampered by lack of a comprehensive source book, for in this one outstanding reference work there is now a huge and invaluable body of source material at their disposal. No wonder this book was awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Tennessee Historical Commission!

"...This is one of the finest reference books we have ever seen."--Winston De Ville, Alexandria (LA) Daily Town Talk

"...Mrs. Potter has made a major contribution to genealogical research in the southern states."--Charles F. Bryan, Jr., Tennessee Historical Quarterly

"May I take a moment of your time to tell you how impressed I am with your Passports of Southeastern Pioneers. It is a model work of genealogical scholarship...."--Letter to the author from Elizabeth Shown Mills

This book was well writing, with many unknown facts on the movement of American families caming to the Southern states. It is a shame that it is out of print.

This book was an outstanding tool in researching the Indians of Crow Creek Reservation. I am doing research on a friend's family and was astounded at what I did NOT know about Indian history.

this book is very richly documented. really interresting pictures and the nice thing is all the titles are translated from lakota. nice idea!

In the middle ages, the people of northern England "knew no prince but a Percy." The Percy family ruled the English/Scottish borders in the middle ages from their castles at Alnwick, Warkworth, and Prudhoe, among others, serving as march wardens and representatives of the king. They led the English through many battles in the Scottish wars of independence, including the battles of Neville's Cross, Otterburn and Humbleton Hill. Henry Percy, the first Earl of Northumberland, and his famous son, Harry Hotspur, were immortalized by Shakespeare in his play, "Richard II." They were allies of Richard II who turned on him and helped set Henry IV on the throne, only to turn against him, too, with disastrous results.

This book is a survey of the history of the ambitious family of kingmakers that ruled the north and its later descendants who brought stability and honor to the family name. Complete with lots of portraits of the family from the Renaissance on, the book is not terribly in-depth, but is an easy and enjoyable read about one notable family's journey through time.

While the first representative of the Percy family in England probably did not fight at Hastings, it's likely that he arrived the following year to found what would become one of the wealthiest and one of the most socially elevated aristocratic dynasties in the country. It survived in its male line until the death at a young age of the 11th Earl of Northumberland in 1670, leaving only a daughter. Elizabeth Percy's third husband was a Seymour and the duke of Somerset and her granddaughter, another Elizabeth, married Sir Hugh Smithson, who adopted the name of Percy and became 1st Duke of Northumberland. It is through this line that the family still survives. Lomas's goal is not to supersede but to update and reinterpret the work of Edward Barrington de Fonblanque (ANNALS OF THE HOUSE OF PERCY, 1887) in light of new data and perceptions. The family's progress in national life was far from smooth and even, being visited at intervals with political disaster, economic near-ruin, and plain bad luck. His approach is one of scholarly detail but his style is quite readable, making this an entirely accessible case study accompanied by a lengthy bibliography.

Charles Chauncey Wells's new guide to the amazing Boston burying-grounds makes both informative and inspirational reading. Informative, because the graveyards themselves are usually bereft of much in the way of guidance (after all, this is hallowed ground, in more ways than one); inspirational because Wells tells the stories of those interred here with such style, wit and verve. The great men (and women, it should be remembered) are all covered here--but the book really shines, in my opinion, in presenting the tales of the "plain folks," those who filled out the amazing array of courage, talent, cunning and vision that made up revolutionary Boston.

The first time I visited Boston I was making my away around turn on the subway to find a baseball card shop. As I was making my way from the station to the store I notice a burial ground nestled between large buildings. I quickly discovered this was the Granary Burial Ground, where Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, the parents of Benjamin Franklin, and the victims of the Boston Massacre were laid to rest. Also buried there are Phillis Wheatley Peter Fanueil, and a woman who is NOT Mother Goose. But in addition to these famous people there were also ordinary folks. I remember one in particular that was of a physician who came from England to care for his parents and others during an epidemic. There were other tombstones that were noteworthy for their art and symbolism. You could easily spend hours on the grounds and never appreciate everything you are seeing.

What will help you with your visit to the three of the old cemeteries of central Boston is this guide, "Preachers, Patriots & Plain Folks: Boston's Burying Ground Guide to King's Chapel, Granary and Central Cemeteries" by Charles Chauncey Wells and Suzanne Austin Wells. The former wrote "Boston's Copp's Hill Burying Ground Guide" in 1998, which performs the same function for that North End Cemetery, while the later provides the black & white photographs taken for this volume (I was wondering why Wells picked that particular cemetery for his first volume and the reason would be that he is a great nephew of Charles Wells, a North End bricklayer who built 89 of the tombs at Copp's Hill and also served as the fourth Mayor of Boston).

The title of this volume actually reflects the three burying grounds since the preachers and early divines of Boston tended to be buried at King's Chapel, the patriots are found at Granary, while the plain folks ended up at Central. However if there is one thing that you will appreciate after reading this 288-page guide it is that the gravestones of unknown personages with their art and epitaphs can be of more interest than the monuments built to those who are famous.

But Wells and Wells also provide concise biographies of apparently every one they could find out anything about, so that when you see the tomb of Captain Robert Keayne at King's Chapel, to pick an example at random, you will learn the Rev. John Cotton wanted to excommunicate the captain for selling goods at exorbitant prices. You can also go and see the grave of Cotton as well. He was the second minister of the 1st Church of Boston and butted heads with both Anne Hutchinson over the doctrine of God's grace over good works and Roger Williams on the belief that civil governors should have no power over men's souls. That will give you a good example of the sort of rich detail you will find in this book.

The introductory Section A explains how "In Boston, the Stones tell the story," which explains the Puritan themes expressed in gravestones, from Puritan death heads and gourds to angel heads and dragons, and also notes the Yankee sense of thrift which had stone carvers inserting letters or words above lines when they ran out of room. The main part of the guide, Section B, is devoted to the three burying grounds. Wells provides an overview of the history of the site, then looks at the famous personages as well as those who are merely "interesting personages." You will also find lists of war dead in a location along with those who were members of the Boston Tea Party. Throughout the book you will find sections devoted to specific topics, such as "African Americans in Boston Burying Grounds" and "Freemasonry & Boston History."

Section C is the reference section, providing both Tomb Indexes and Gravestone Lists for each of the three Burying Grounds. This means that if you are looking for Governor John Winthrop, Gilbert Stuart, James Otis, or other famous individuals you will have to check the alphabetical listings for each site (but you should be able to make educated guesses given the introduction). Section D, in a packet attached to the inside back cover, with consists of a two-sided map for the three locations, which will be helpful when you visit.

It is a mistake to think that reading this fascinating volume is a substitute for actual going to Boston and visiting these sites, because it is not. For me it is both a remembrance of what I have seen before as well as an amplification providing additional insights, not to mention an indication of what I want to see the next time I visit. I have been to the Granary Burying Ground twice and now, because of "Preachers, Patriots & Plain Folks" I am looking forward to going back for a third visit.

"Preserve Your Family History: A Step-by-Step Guide For Interviewing Family Members And Writing Oral Histories" by LeAnn R. Ralph is a thoroughly 'user friendly' instruction manual specifically designed and written for non-specialist general readers who would like to capture the anecdotal histories of aging family members whether it would be for supplementing genealogical research, preserving stories and biographies for the benefit of future generations, or to simply learn about the life stories of family members while they are still able to relate them. "Preserve Your Family History" demonstrates that all that is needed is compiling a list of people to be interviewed, a set of questions to ask them, a tape recorder to preserve what is said, a pen and notepad to write on, a typewriter or computer to put it all down in writing, and above all else, a willingness to listen. The benefits of recording family members' oral histories and anecdotal recollections is that their experiences are the backdrop for your own history, the foundations for your own value system, opinions, and attitudes, a framework to explain how you fit into your own family structure. "Preserve Your Family History" is meant to be a 'consumable', that is, to be written in, selected pages photocopied, given to others to utilize in preparing for interviews, and shared with others in cooperative efforts to preserve family histories while those who lived and created that history are still with us. Also very highly recommended for personal reading, as well as Wisconsin community library collections, are LeAnn Ralph's"Christmas in Dairyland: True Stories from a Wisconsin Farm" (2003); "Give Me a Home Where the Diary Cows Roam (2004); "Cream of the Crop: More True Stories from a Wisconsin Farm" (2005); and "Where The Green Grass Grows: True (Spring and Summer) Stories from a Wisconsin Farm" (2006).

I am the author of this book, and I have been a newspaper reporter for nearly a decade. Five years ago, I started writing my own books of stories about growing up on a small family dairy farm in Wisconsin. Before that, I wrote a newspaper column for nearly seven years about growing up on a dairy farm and about living in rural Wisconsin. I have an undergraduate degree in English with a writing emphasis from UW-Whitewater, and I also have a Master of Arts in Teaching from UW-Whitewater.

Because of my background and the types of stories I wrote, people would often talk to me about their own family stories. Many times, someone would say to me, "I would love to interview my grandmother (grandfather, aunt, uncle, elderly neighbor, elderly friends) but I don't know where or how to start."

That's how I got the idea for this book.

"Preserve Your Family History" is 70 pages and contains a step-by-step guide for interviewing people and also has more than 400 questions on 30 different topics to get you started.

This book is meant to be used. Write notes in it. Give copies to the people you want to interview so they know what kinds of questions you want to ask. And if you only record the interviews on tape or videotape and do not write an oral history, you will still preserve the stories.

I wish I had done that before my mom and dad passed away. But I didn't. Please don't make the same mistake.

LeAnn R. Ralph

The book is a bit of a dry read, but as a Prideaux I found it fascinating! With the use of some additional information I managed to trace my ancestory back through several pages of charts to the very begining of (Prideaux) time.

As R. M. says, there aren't many very exciting Prideaux's, either possitive or negative, but the book is interesting as a historical reference.

I managed to find a new copy of the book in an online store in Cornwall, but the site is nolonger active. I am sure the folks at Amazon can find a copy if you are patient.

A very well written book, covering the history, life, times and evolution of the clan. Essential reading for any Prideaux descendant and anyone interested in the history of the Cornwall area. If you are visting Cornwall, this book is a "must".

This may be the most important general genealogical resource to appear since the revised edition of _The Source,_ to which it is the companion volume. Meyerink is an Accredited Genealogist and teacher of wide experience as well as a reference librarian and bibliographer at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. As in _The Source,_ each of the 20 chapters is written by a recognized expert in a subject (the editor provides six chapters himself), ranging from published catalogs and indexes to printed land records, county histories, and family histories. The Introduction and the four chapters that make up the "Background Information" section should be read by all genealogists, preferably early in their development. Coverage in all chapters ranges from the very general (and essential) to the surprisingly detailed, such as a two-page table of the most useful published and unpublished statewide indexes to county and local histories. Practical examples abound, including the causes of incorrect record transcriptions in published collections, the shortcomings of census indexes (and how to work around them), the differences among the major genealogical journals, where to find key documentary collections, and scores of others. Subject bibliographies, lists of addresses (and Web sites), and assorted checklists are scattered thickly throughout. Of special interest is Appendix A: "CD-ROMs for Family Historians," which lists all the major titles available through early 1998 -- more than 200 of them -- and also the names and address of 45 CD-ROM publishers. Put this one in your letter to Santa Claus this year!

In their usual fine tradition, Ancestry Publishing has come up with yet another definitive book to assist serious genealogy researchers with the task at hand! Hot off the press and first distributed at the May 1998 NGS National Genealogical Society Conference, critics are hailing this as a "must have" reference book extraordinaire.

"Most guidebooks do not discuss published records in detail, but most researchers begin with published records." (p2)

This massive collaborative effort includes the following participants: General Reference - Martha L. Henderson

Instructional Materials - Sandra Hargreaves Luebking

Geographic Tools: Maps, Atlases and Gazetteers - Carol Mehr Schiffman

Ethnic Sources - Loretto Dennis Szucs

Bibliographies and Catalogs - David T. Thackery

Published Indexes - Kip Sperry

Vital & Cemetery Records - Karen Clifford

Church Sources - Richard W. Dougherty

Censuses and Tax Lists - G. David Dilts

Published Probate Records - Wendy Elliott

Printed Land Records - Wendy B. Elliott and Karen Clifford

Court and Legal Records - Benjamin Barnett Spratling, 3rd

Military Sources - David T. Thackery

Immigration Sources - Kory L. Meyerink

Documentary Sources - Kory L. Meyerink

Family Histories and Genealogies - Kory L. Meyerink

County & Local Histories - Kory L. Meyerink

Biographies - Kory L. Meyerink

Genealogical Periodicals - Kory L. Meyerink

Medieval Genealogy - Glade I. Nelson & John M. Kitzmiller, 2nd

Appendixes include: CD-ROMs for family historians, ajor US genealogical libraries, genealogical publishers and booksellers.

One uses this 840 page reference work in a variety of ways. I do recommend reading the entire introduction. Mr. Meyerink points out that printed "records must be evaluated in at least seven respects: relevance, origin of information, nature of the record, format of the record, directness of the evidence, consistency and clarity of facts and likelihood of events." See also his discussion of copyright laws, the importance of sound documentation, and the effective use of library services and catalogs.

I wouldn't tackle more than one chapter at a time, as the reading is heavy, due to the thorough presentation of each topic. Take notes, photocopy and underline the important pages. Then put what you've learned into practice by visiting your local library to solidify your understanding of the concepts presented. We know there are no quick fixes. It takes time to educate oneself in the area of responsible genealogical research techniques.

Even experienced genealogists find great merit in studying the pages of Printed Sources. I've placed this on my nearest bookshelf right next to the equally essential The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy and Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County and Town Resources.

DearMYRTLE

Realmente puede entender que quiere decir el angel custodio y como me protege , a traves de este libro.
Tambien pude comprender a mi pareja y a mis hijos.

ME PARECE UN LIBRO MUY CONMOVEDOR E IDEAL PARA REGALAR

I was truly amazed by this book. It combined creativity and great pieces of litterature. I was unable to put down this book because the stories so captivating. The book contains extraordinary stories about ordinary people. I was able to relate to many of the stories, and was fascinated by these people's lives. Anyone can find something they like in this great publication. I can't wait to see Laurier Macdonald's next publications!!!

This is a great book with so much detail and proffesionalism that it is hard to believe that it was written by high school students. These students are prime examples of what our nation's students should be.
It is absolutely amazing to see what some of these people went through with their personal and sometimes funny stories. All photos tell a story and this book actually displays them. I could not put this book down because you are always looking forward to reading another interesting story.
Get it! you won't regret it!!!!!