Received at the Library

Essex Genealogist for Feb. 2019 contains the transcript of a talk by Marian Pierre-Louis entitled "Breaking down brick walls with collateral research."  She is an entertaining speaker, and her case study of identifying the parents with a common surname using naming patterns and thorough research into siblings and in-laws reveals a wealth of knowledge about New England genealogy.

In the lead article in Your genealogy today (Mar.-Apr.2019) we are cautioned to look at family stories with a healthy dose of skepticism.  A column provides tips on hiring a professional genealogist.  Another on the power of DNA to solve mysteries flatly states, "if you haven't found illegitimacy in your family tree, you haven't tried hard enough." Fans of Mark Twain will enjoy an article about his boyhood friend Laura Hawkins Frazer, the model for Tom Sawyer's Becky Thatcher.  Gardeners may find inspiration in a piece encouraging the creation of a memory garden to commemorate departed relatives.  A very thorough article covers the many strategies for avoiding "surname stumbles," such as deciphering old scripts, identifying similar sounds, transcription errors and more.  There are tales of genealogy tourism on Virginia's Eastern shore, and the stirring recovery of an abducted child from Stalin's Russia.

Mass-Pocha (Feb. 2019) contains articles on researching in Ukraine, as well as Poland and Czechia.