Genealogy Research Books

GENERAL GENEALOGY | HERITAGE-BASED RESEARCH | RECORDS RESEARCH |
US GENEALOGY | GENEALOGY WEBSITES | DNA AND GENETIC GENEALOGY

General Genealogy and Research Methods

Elizabeth Shown Mills

Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace

Changes at major repositories and online information providers have caused new citation and analysis challenges for researchers. Find revised citation models, added descriptions and more.

Christina K. Schaefer

The Hidden Half of the Family: A Sourcebook for Women’s Genealogy

This book addresses the difficult task of finding women in traditional sources, and how individual states’ laws, records, and resources can be used in determining female identity.

Elizabeth Shown Mills

Professional Genealogy: Preparation, Practice & Standards

An invaluable resource for professional genealogists, students, and family history researchers. Learn invaluable information and advice on topics ranging from genetic genealogy to preparing books for press.

Elizabeth Shown Mills

Evidence!: Citation and Analysis for the Family Historian

This book is invaluable for beginners, who want to avoid mistakes in their research, and for advanced researchers, who are seeking guideposts to map their own course precisely.

Judy Jacobson

History for Genealogists: Using Chronological Time Lines to Find and Understand Your Ancestors

Using a vast array of historical time lines, this is the one history book all genealogists should own when they are searching for fresh clues or hoping to understand what made their ancestors tick.

Richard Hite

Sustainable Genealogy: Separating Fact from Fiction in Family Legends

Sustainable Genealogy explains how to avoid the traps many family historians can fall into—whether it’s a proud family legend, a venerable publication, or the claims of an Internet family tree.

Emily Anne Croom

Unpuzzling Your Past

From a step-by-step discussion of the records used in genealogical research to the investigation of family legends, this book shines a light on all facets of family history research.

Emily Anne Croom

The Sleuth Book for Genealogists: Strategies for More Successful Family History Research

Brick wall? Try gleaning advice from literary sleuths like Miss Marple and Sherlock Holmes. The Sleuth Book for Genealogists, blends literary methods of deduction with genealogical expertise.

Elizabeth Shown Mills

Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians

This manual is for anyone serious about genealogy from family historians to attorneys to librarians. For established genealogical professionals, it offers benchmarks to advance their skills and more.

Kenyatta D. Berry

The Family Tree Toolkit: A Comprehensive Guide to Uncovering Your Ancestry and Researching Genealogy

Whether you are looking for your African, Asian, European, or Jewish ancestry, The Family Tree Toolkit guides you on how and where to begin, what records are available both online and in repositories, and much more.

Marsha Hoffman Rising

The Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried-and-True Tactics for Tracing Elusive Ancestors

Marsha Hoffman Rising’s updated bestselling book, The Family Tree Problem Solver, has the solutions to help you find the answers you seek for your brick walls. Here, you’ll find answers to genealogy’s toughest problems.

Drew Smith

Organize Your Genealogy: Strategies and Solutions for Every Researcher

Organize Your Genealogy will show you how to use tried-and-true methods and the latest tech tools and genealogy software to organize your research plan, workspace, and family-history finds.

Heritage-based Research

IRISH AND SCOTTISH GENEALOGY

John Grenham

Tracing Your Irish Ancestors

The fifth edition of this definitive Irish genealogy guidebook is easily the most useful book in Irish genealogy. Get step-by-step instructions on traditional genealogical records, civil records, land records wills, and a list of Roman Catholic parish records and source lists.

Brian Mitchell

A New Genealogical Atlas of Ireland

The author has drawn least three maps for every Irish county: The first county map depicts the civil parishes; the second shows the baronies and dioceses of that county; the third illustrates the poor law unions and the parishes included in the probate districts serving that county.

Brian Mitchell

New Pocket Guide to Irish Genealogy

“Pocket Guide” is a bit of misnomer. This publication is one of the most complete and informative books on genealogical research in Ireland ever written. It covers civil and parish registers, gravestone inscriptions, the Griffith’s Valuation, tithe books, newspapers, ordnance survey memoirs, and much more.

David Dobson

Scottish Genealogy: The Basics and Beyond

This book is the culmination of over 50 years of historical and genealogical research by the author. It identifies the major sources and repositories for those just getting started on their research.

Claire Santry

The Family Tree Irish Genealogy Guide

This in-depth guide will take you step-by-step through the exciting—and challenging—journey of discovering your Irish roots.

Amanda Epperson

The Family Tree Scottish Genealogy Guide

This book will help you uncover your Scottish heritage, from identifying your immigrant ancestor to tracking down records in the old country. Learn about church records, civil registrations, censuses, and more.

GERMAN GENEALOGY

Angus Baxter

In Search of Your German Roots: A Complete Guide to Tracing Your Ancestors in the Germanic Areas of Europe

This book is designed to help you trace your German ancestry, not only in Germany but in all the German-speaking areas of Europe, from the Baltic to the Crimea, from the Czech Republic to Belgium.

Ernest Thode

German-English Genealogical Dictionary

This book is for the family researcher who has little or no knowledge of German, but who needs German-language documents translations. The dictionary covers thousands of German terms and defines them in single words or brief phrases.

the family tree german genealogy guide
James Beidler

The Family Tree German Genealogy Guide: How to Trace Your Germanic Ancestry in Europe

Follow your family tree back to its roots in Bavaria, Baden, Prussia, Hesse, Saxony, Wurttemburg and beyond. This in-depth genealogy guide will walk you step by step through the exciting journey of researching your German heritage.

BRITISH AND WELSH GENEALOGY

Mark D. Herber

Ancestral Trails: The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History

The second edition of the book that has been called the Bible of British genealogy, Ancestral Trails enables the researcher to form a coherent picture of past generations by describing virtually every class of record in every repository and library in Britain.

John Rowlands

Welsh Family History: A Guide to Research

This handbook on Welsh genealogy deals primarily with those aspects of family history research that are unique to Wales. Originally published by the Association of Family History Societies of Wales, it is considered the best book ever written on Welsh genealogy.

Peter Wilson Coldham

The Complete Book of Emigrants, 1607-1660

This is a heroic attempt to bring together from English sources a complete list of immigrants to the New World from 1607 to 1660, compiled English scholar Peter Wilson Coldham, the leading authority on early English emigration records.

Peter Wilson Coldham

The Complete Book of Emigrants in Bondage, 1614-1775

Between 1614 and 1775 some 50,000 English men, women, and children were sentenced to the American colonies for a variety of crimes. The data on these involuntary colonists came from a variety of official records which the author of this work spent over fifteen years studying.

OTHER EUROPEAN GENEALOGY

David A. Fryxell

The Family Tree Scandinavian Genealogy Guide: How to Trace Your Ancestors in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark

Trace your Swedish, Norwegian, or Danish ancestors! This convenient guide will help you discover your Northern European family history while optimizing your research time.

Melanie D. Holtz

The Family Tree Italian Genealogy Guide: How to Trace Your Family Tree in Italy

This in-depth guide will walk you through the exciting journey of researching your Italian famiglia both here and in Italy.

Allison Dolan

The Family Tree Guidebook to Europe: Your Essential Guide to Trace Your Genealogy in Europe

Chart your research course to find your European ancestors with the beginner-friendly, how-to instruction in this book. This one-of-a-kind collection provides invaluable information about more than 35 countries in a single source.

Gary Boyd Roberts

The Royal Descents of 900 Immigrants to the American Colonies, Quebec, or the United States

Most Americans with sizable New England Yankee, mid-Atlantic Quaker, or Southern “planter” ancestry are descended from medieval kings—kings of England, Scotland and France especially. This book, in two volumes, tells you how to find them.

Records Research

Sunny Jane Morton

How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records

It is not always an easy task to track down U.S. church records. This book takes researchers step-by-step through the process of identifying, locating, and gaining access to these genealogical gems.

William Thorndale

Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920

This work shows all U.S. county boundaries from 1790 to 1920. On each of the nearly 400 maps the old county lines are superimposed over the modern ones to highlight the boundary changes at ten-year intervals.

Margaret Law Hatcher

Locating Your Roots: Discover Your Ancestors Using Land Records

Land records are among the most valuable resources for genealogists. This invaluable guide will help you understand the various types of land records and give you the information you need to locate these records.

US Genealogy

Val. D. Greenwood

The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy

Arguably the best book ever written on American genealogy, it instructs the researcher in the timeless principles of genealogical research, while identifying the most current classes of records and research tools.

James Savage

A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England

This is the basic genealogical dictionary of early New England settlers, alphabetically arranged with relevant date information for each. It gives the name of every settler who arrived in New England before 1692 regardless of their station, rank, or fortune.

Susan E. Roser

Mayflower Increasings

Mrs. Roser’s work provides an accurate and reliable summary of all that is presently known about the passengers of the Mayflower for the first three generations in America—names, dates, places, spouses, children, etc.

Kip Sperry

Reading Early American Handwriting

This book is designed to teach you how to read and understand the handwriting found in documents commonly used in genealogical research. It explains techniques for reading early American documents, provides samples of alphabets and more.

William Dollarhide

New York State Censuses & Substitutes

In addition to the numerous statewide official censuses taken by New York, this work contains references to census substitutes and name lists for time periods in which the state did not take an official census.

Paul Heinegg

Free African Americans of North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina from the Colonial Period to About 1820

Researchers will find the names of the more than 13,000 African Americans encompassed by Mr. Heinegg’s genealogies—conveniently located in the full-name index at the back of each volume.

Allison Dolan

The Family Tree Historical Maps Book: A State-by-State Atlas of US History, 1790-1900

The maps illustrate the historical boundaries of each of the US.states as they progressed from territories to statehood and show the shifting of county boundaries and names within states over the years.

Genealogy Websites

Nancy Hendrickson

Unofficial Guide to Ancestry.com

This book will help you get the most out of your Ancestry.com subscription by showing you how to take advantage of what the world’s biggest genealogy website has to offer.

Nancy Hendrickson

Unofficial Ancestry.com Workbook

In this workbook, an essential companion to the Unofficial Guide to Ancestry.com, you’ll learn how to use Ancestry.com to its full advantage, with detailed guides to searching the site’s digitized records.

Dana McCullough

Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch.org

This in-depth user guide shows you how to find your family for free in FamilySearch’s databases and millions of digitized historical records spanning the globe.

DNA and Genetic Genealogy

Blaine T. Bettinger

Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy

Discover the answers to your family history mysteries using the most-cutting edge tool available to genealogists. This plain-English guide, newly revised and expanded, is a one-stop resource on genetic genealogy for family historians.

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