Saturday, July 28, 2018

Received at the Library

Family tree magazine (July-Aug. 2018) emphasizes how genealogy is like detective work, and in fact is being used in real cases such as identifying the Golden State Killer.  The local genealogy society in Orange County CA is partnering with the coroner's office to research relatives of people who die alone.  A professional genealogist has tracked down his sperm-donor father ("Finding connections") through DNA.  If you're a detective fiction fan, check out British author Steve Robinson's genealogy sleuth series.  A useful primer on Eastern European genealogy research gives six common obstacles and how to overcome them.  State guides for Maine and New Mexico provide a handy summary of record availability and addresses.  "Top secrets" are 12 tips for staying organized and making the most of your research efforts.  "Off the grid" reminds us that only perhaps a third of the records that are relevant to our ancestors' lives are digitized, and suggests where to look for the rest.
PS A reminder that Lisa Louise Cooke hosts Family Tree podcasts available free on ITunes.

Internet genealogy (June/July 2018) also emphasizes sleuthing.  "Inklings, hunches, and sneaking suspicions" suggests ways to harness our intuition in service of our research.  "Crowdsourcing" explains how important this tool has become for getting records indexed.  Scottish tax rolls can be an important substitute for census records.  A fire in 1922 destroyed hundreds of years of records in Dublin, but "Beyond 2022" seeks to recreate much of the missing information online in time for the 100th anniversary of the fire.  Reviews are offered of Scrivener 3 for Mac, TSOLife, and Genlighten.


American Revolution

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