Review: "The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy"

Disclosure: The Genealogical Publishing Company sent me a free copy of this book to review; I received no other consideration, and my comments are entirely my own.

This is the 4th edition of Val Greenwood's encyclopedic guide, and it's the first update since the 3rd edition of The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy was published in 2000. As an experienced family-history researcher, I was particularly impressed by Part 1 (chapters 1-11), "Background to Research." This section lays out the many detailed steps in the process of conducting traditional genealogical research. Always on the lookout for ways to tune-up my process and structure my research, I came away with some new ideas for logical thinking and a renewed spirit of motivation after reading these chapters.

I liked Greenwood's careful explanations of how, exactly, to begin or continue researching a family's past. He reminds the reader why certain steps are important, as well as providing thoughtful examples to show how concepts are applied. For instance, in the chapter on surveying, analyzing, and planning, Greenwood provides a basic "T" chart for writing the research question, listing information known, and analyzing the implications. Then he follows up with a specific example showing how to put each piece of information into context during the planning stages of research. It was a refresher course for me, but I think beginners will especially appreciate the nitty-gritty techniques and tips for doing solid research in a logical manner.

Greenwood's writing is clear and reader-friendly, and he weaves in his opinions to let the reader decide how to proceed, adding a personal touch here and there. I came to this book with fresh eyes, having never seen the classic, older editions. Being fluent in computerese, I skipped the material about technology (Chapters 9 and 10, for example). I was much more interested in the author's approach to the overall topic. And I do wish this new edition could have been kept under 700 pages, with slightly larger type, for reasons of readability.


The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy is strong on traditional research, and it's a useful addition to my reference shelf. Any time I want to check my logic or brush up on U.S. sources of genealogical information, this book will be within reach.

Surprise! I'm a RootsTech 2018 Winner

Just 10 days ago, I entered Caitlin Gow's contest to win a free #RootsTech 2018 pass. (I'd already registered for the conference a month earlier, as a #FirstTimer.)

And this morning, I woke up to the surprise news that my entry was the winner. Wow!

Caitlin's qualifying question was: If you could have been born in any other year, what would it be and why?

My answer was: If the genealogy genie could grant me this wish, I would choose to be born in 1886, the year that the Statue of Liberty was unveiled in New York harbor. She made her official debut on Oct 28, 1886, so my wish is to have that be my birthday, too. Imagine being born in the same year, as this icon of freedom and hope was presented to the country, with a million people watching.

I thought of Lady Liberty because so many of my immigrant ancestors passed her on their way into New York. It must have been a thrill and a relief to see her standing tall in the harbor and know that their ocean crossing was at an end--and a new life was about to start.

A big thank you to Caitlin, the RootsTech Ambassador who ran this contest. Check out her "Genealogically Speaking" blog here.

And a big thank you to the folks at RootsTech for providing this free pass, for which I'm truly grateful.

Salt Lake City, here I come in 2018. So many ancestors, so little time.

Kindle Countdown Deal: Buy My Book for Only 99 Cents

Black Friday is almost here! And that means the start of my first-ever Kindle Countdown Deal. From 1 am on Friday to 11 pm on Sunday, buy the Kindle version of Planning a Future for Your Family's Past for only 99 cents. Please click here for my Kindle edition.

For you or as a gift for a genealogy-obsessed friend, only 99 cents for 98 pages of practical, hands-on ideas:

• Learn how to organize and analyze your genealogical materials, getting your collection ready for tomorrow while you uncover clues to solve family history mysteries today. My book includes specific suggestions for sorting materials, safely storing them, captioning photos, inventorying what you have, and indexing for new insights.
• Decide what to keep and what to give away. You'll get ideas for winnowing down your collection by giving duplicate items to other family members and, if you choose, donating artifacts to institutions that will preserve them for the future.
• See how to set up a genealogical "will," by identifying heirs to receive your photos and documents and writing down your instructions to clarify your wishes. Don't let your precious research end up in a flea market or garbage bin.
• Share with heirs--now. Tell the stories, show the photos, explain DNA results, and get relatives excited about your family's history. It's their heritage too!
• Kindle book includes dozens of hotlinks to online resources accessible with just a click while you read. Plus sample forms in the back of the book will help you get organized and stay organized.

Thanks for passing the word about this special deal. And please do me the favor of reviewing on Amazon! Your feedback would mean a lot to me. Thank you again.

PS: If you have Kindle Unlimited on Amazon, don't forget that you can read my book for free, anytime. 

Thanksgivings of the Past

Happy Thanksgiving! I looked back in diaries, postcards, meeting minutes, and other bits and pieces of my genealogical collection to get a glimpse of what happened on Thanksgivings of the past in my family and my husband's family.*

• The strangely-colored postcard at right, from the 1910s, was received in East Cleveland by hubby's uncle, Wallis W. Wood. The sender was "Aunt Nellie" (Rachel Ellen Wood Kirby), who lived in Chicago and never missed an opportunity to send holiday or birthday greetings to her nephews and nieces in the Wood family.
• On Thanksgiving Day of 1959, my late father-in-law (Edgar J. Wood) received the exciting news that he would be a grandfather for the first time during 1960. How do I know? He wrote about it in his diary!
• On Thanksgiving Day of 1950, my grandma's Farkas family gathered at the C&L Restaurant in Manhattan for dinner and accordion entertainment, at $6 per person. My parents, Daisy Schwartz and Harry Burk, told the family they were buying a TV set to celebrate their wedding anniversary (they married on November 24, 1946). I read about it in the minutes of the Farkas Family Tree.
• The Farkas Family Tree and spouses and children pitched in to have a photo taken of everyone who attended the Thanksgiving Day dinner at a Manhattan hotel in 1956. It was a large group! Again, the story of planning this dinner and the photography is straight out of the tree's monthly minutes, which I scanned and indexed a few years ago.
• My aunt Dorothy Schwartz worked on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade with her long-time friend and partner, Lee Wallace, from 1950-1952. Lee was then the head of public relations for Macy's, and Dorothy was her assistant. Then my aunt got her teaching license and left the world of retail to teach typing and shorthand at Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx. Yes, this is the same aunt who was a WAC during WWII.

 *Not including hubby's Mayflower ancestors celebrating Thanksgiving, of course. That's the oldest "Thanksgiving of the Past" story I can tell to my family for the holiday.

Saluting Pilgrim Ancestors

As Thanksgiving approaches, I want to salute my husband's four Pilgrim ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower: Isaac Allerton, his wife Mary Norris Allerton, their daughter Mary Allerton, and Degory Priest.

Sadly, neither Degory Priest nor Mary Norris Allerton survived the first year at Plymouth.

There's a new Mayflower Heritage page on AmericanAncestors.org with lots of great details about the Pilgrims, including a page where descendants can be listed. I'm going to check that out!

Reading the Mayflower Society's listing of notable descendants, I see that hubby's connection to Isaac Allerton means he's distantly related to: Louis Comfort Tiffany, Joanne Woodward, Franklin D. Roosevelt (also descended from Degory Priest), and Zachary Taylor. Thanks to the Degory Priest connection, hubby is also distantly related to Richard Gere.

In just a few years, we'll be celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's arrival.

Feeling thankful this Thanksgiving!

Beyond "Google Your Family Tree"

I was lucky enough to be in the audience when Dan Lynch talked about the 6 most important search commands needed to "Google Your Family Tree." Having seen Dan speak a number of years ago, and having read his book cover to cover (it's now out of print), it was very educational to hear him update this important topic.

One of the Google "operators" (commands for searching) was new to me, not even mentioned in his book. (BTW, a command he used to advocate using, the tilde, is no longer a Google operator, so he suggested we not bother using it.)

Dan showed how to filter the millions of search results to focus on the most relevant genealogy results by using these key search commands, alone or in combination:

AND

OR

"" (quotation marks)

- (minus sign)

* (wild card)

AROUND(insert number here).

Here's what was new to me: AROUND(#) instructs Google to search for a word or phrase in proximity to another word or phrase by defining the number of words between them. 

To try this kind of search yourself, first do a search for "Google" and go to the Google search home page of your choice. I usually use the US home page, but if you want to search in another country or language, start on that home page (such as Google Canada).

The point is to go fishing in the Google ocean closest to where you would like Google results. Of course, Google often presents results from many countries and in many languages. But by starting on the home page of the nation you particularly want to search, it's more likely that results from that nation will be closer to the top of the list.

Next, choose two phrases (such as names or a name and a place) and choose how many words should separate those names or phrases. Above, my search executed on the Google Canada home page. I'm looking for hubby's great uncle, Captain John Daniel Slatter, who was the long-serving bandmaster of the 48th Highlanders regiment of Toronto.

This search is very restrictive because I'm telling Google to look for highly specific results--only results that have the exact phrase "John D. Slatter" within 4 words (no more than that) of the exact phrase "48th Highlanders." If the words or phrases are 5 words apart, they won't appear in my results. If the words or phrases are 3 or 2 words apart, they will be in my results.

Doing this search, Google tells me I have "around 2,150 results" which sounds more reasonable to check out than, say, 150,000 results or 1,500,000 results. Of course, I already know enough about Capt. Slatter to know he was part of the 48th Highlanders. In this search, I'm trying to locate new material about his role in that regiment.

In reality, Google filtered my actual results even further, omitting results that were very similar to the ones presented on the two pages of results I actually saw. This is typical, and I'm sure you often see that as well. We always have the option to click and repeat with duplicate or similar entries included in the results. Dan hammered home the point that we should always, always click beyond the first page of results. You just never know when an important nugget will be at the bottom of page 2 or even page 5.

In my example, the entire first page of results consisted of entries in my own blog, plus two "we found John Slatter" entries trying to get me to click for his phone number, etc.
However, the second page of results had an entry I'd never seen! It was for the Toronto Conservatory of Music year book of 1914-15, posted for free on the Internet Archive (https://archive.org).

I clicked and then, to save time scrolling and scrolling for the highlighted text, I searched within the book. Capt. Slatter appeared twice. The first appearance was in a listing of lessons being offered to students. Here it is, in the wording and typeface as it appeared in the year book:

         TUBA— John D. Slatter, Bandmaster 48th Highlanders 15.00 

This is how AROUND(#) works. It found me something I hadn't found in the past. I'm going to experiment with different versions of Capt. Slatter's name and different number of words for proximity with his regiment, his wife's name, and other family members.

Have you tried searching the Internet for your ancestors using the AROUND(#) operator? If not, go ahead and give it a try!

PS: Don't forget to look at image results. Maybe you'll get really lucky and find an ancestor's photo.

PPS: This post is the most popular of all-time on my genealogy blog, as of 2019!