Publisher’s Note: Genealogical.com is delighted to announce the publication of the original e-Book, The Complete Guide to FamilyTreeDNA: Y-DNA, Mitochondrial, Autosomal and X-DNA, by Roberta Estes,  author of the popular blog www.DNA-eXplained.com. On or about July 1, 2024, we shall also publish the 8-1/2” x 11” paperback version of The Complete Guide to FamilyTreeDNA. All the illustrations in the e-Book are in color. The illustrations in the paperback will be in black and white. FamilyTreeDNA, founded in 2000, was the first and is still the only company to offer three kinds of DNA testin ..read more

In her August 30, 2023 review of Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy, by Drew Smith, organizational expert Janine Adams observed, “Like Drew, I wish a book like this had been around when I started doing genealogy research. It’s so clearly laid out and clearly written, with bits of humor tossed in. The depth of information is broad and Drew doesn’t go down rabbit holes, but he doesn’t just skim the surface. His explanation of the various types of DNA was one of the most easy to understand that I’ve read. The generational approach of Part II is very user frien ..read more

(This article first appeared in the September 4, 2008 posting on our blog) I’m a firm believer that genealogy should be fun. If we lose sight of the enjoyment of solving puzzles and discovering new information, genealogy simply becomes work. To me having fun while researching takes many forms: talking to myself (statements like “well, it’s about time, there he is!”), pumping my fist enthusiastically into the air when the elusive bit is found on an almost unreadable microfilm reel, and finding that three hours have passed in the blink of an eye. I often look around me to observe other research ..read more

Let’s say you are looking for the German origin of one of your ancestors, and you’ve exhausted your English-language sources. You are familiar with German genealogical words and phrases because you own a copy of Ernest Thode’s German-English Genealogical Dictionary. You’re reasonably confident that the missing ancestor came to the U.S. from Berlin, so what should you do next? The answer could be in another book by Mr. Thode, namely, the Second Edition of his Historic German Newspapers Online. For the past decade or so, Thode has been sourcing every German-language newspaper on the Internet th ..read more

Over the past two years, we have published compendia devoted to two series of books compiled by Dr. David Dobson: Scots-Irish Links (16 parts), and Irish Emigrants in North America (10 parts). Both of these consolidated works improve upon their original components by adding full-name indexes and, especially for institutional buyers, by assembling all the various parts in one place.  As publishers we appreciate and promote the value of these compendia; however, it should not be lost on researchers that David Dobson has continued to travel to archives in Scotland, Ireland, and elsewhe ..read more

Over the past week or two, we received highly favorable reviews of the new fourth edition of Evidence Explained. Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace from three of the most popular genealogy bloggers on the Internet: Marian B. Wood (“Climbing My Family Tree”), Randy Seaver (“Genea-Musings” ), and Linda Stufflebean (“Empty Branches on the Family Tree”). Each reviewer provided a strong, overall endorsement for the new edition. Mr. Seaver, writing on February 18th, asserted, “This book is a necessary work for every researcher’s bookshelf or desktop, or reference book computer file ..read more

Consider the following 17th-century Virginia land patent abstract: “MATHEW PRICE, son and heire to JOHN PRICE, late of Va., labourer, 150 acs. Henrico Co., upon Turkey Island Cr., 23 May 1638, p. 558. E. by S. upon sd. Cr., W. by N. toward Bremo, S. by W. upon land granted to his late father, now in possession of his mother ANN HALLOM, widdowe, towards the gr. River & N. by E. into the woods. Due in right of his father who had a patent of 150 acs. Granted 20 Feb.1619. by SIR GEORG YEARDLY.” It is no exaggeration to say that this patent-in-brief, filed by Mathew Price of Henrico County, hol ..read more

The Winter 2023 edition of Ohio Genealogy News (Vol.54: No. 4), the quarterly newsletter of the Ohio Genealogical Society, features a review by genealogist Katharine Ott of the new edition of Genealogical Research in Ohio, by Kip Sperry. View Details Here are a few highlights from that review: “The updated and revised version is a thorough coverage of on-site, published, and online records for all the usual topics . . . and perhaps ones the readers haven’t considered yet. . . . And be sure to check out the extensive bibliography of books available on various topics . . . Much of the informatio ..read more

To celebrate the release of the new fourth edition of Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, EE’s author offers guidance drawn from the new edition. This is the fourth in our four-part series. ( View Part 1 | View Part 2 | View Part 3 ) Citations are flexible structures. They are not rigid formulas from which we dare not deviate lest the Citation Police take away our license to do research.  When and how to deviate is the issue that puzzles most researchers. The new fourth edition of Evidence Explained adds an entirely ..read more

To celebrate the release of the new fourth edition of Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace, author Elizabeth Shown Mills offers guidance drawn from the new edition. This is second in our four-part series. (View part 1) Technology has complicated the process of citing our sources. With digital images delivered online or through other electronic media, we have two entities to cite: first, the original document and where it is housed; second, the digital provider from whom we obtained the images.  Citing only the provider is unwise. Websites come ..read more