Reviews for Researcher's Guide To American Genealogy. Third Edition

The average rating for Researcher's Guide To American Genealogy. Third Edition based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-01-24 00:00:00 Mark Follon NOTE: I read the 4th edition, which is not yet on Goodreads I became involved with genealogy after inheriting my grandfather Lynne O. Ramer's personal papers, including genealogy research on the Ramer family by Grant L. Schadle. In the early 1990s I began my own research through the Internet and Family Tree Maker. I already had Robert Evan's published book on Jacob Gochenour and His Family and Grant Schadle's Ramer family tree research. I wanted to find out about my British roots and my husband's ancestry. Looking back, my early work was shoddy. I relied on family trees that lacked supporting documentation and my record keeping consisted of saved "Favorites" on the search engine, saved files to my computer, and printed off copies of documents, trees, and other sources. I later committed to World membership with Ancestry.com and the family tree I have created there is my main source of records keeping. What I needed at the beginning was a better understanding of family history research. A 'researcher's guide.' Val D. Greenwood's first published The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy in 1973, selling over 110,000 copies. Because of the huge impact of the Internet in research, he revised the book for the 4th edition published in 2017. It is massive in size, nearly 800 pages. It is a comprehensive reference book that covers every aspect of family research. Part I addresses Background to Research and Part II Records and Their Use. Greenwood has included illustrations and charts. The 4th Edition specifically is updated to reflect the new sources available in research provided by the Internet. Greenwood includes overviews of all the major family history websites, including Ancestry, Family Search, Find My Past, and My Heritage, explaining what they offer and how to use them. As he notes in his Preface, "though it is a great boon to this work, it [the Internet] is still an imperfect tool. Many important records...are not on the Internet." I know this for a fact! I have been the gracious recipient of help from researchers who have visited places I could not and shared their findings with me. A researcher who visited my grandfather's hometown courthouse shared information with me through Ancestry. In this way I discovered my great-grandmother on the 1910 census under a married name--a marriage I was ignorant of! Greenwood separates family research as a compilation of another's work and true scientific, systematic, documented research. Of course, my early work was merely compilation of other's findings. I can at least feel good that I have created family trees that includes not just my direct ancestors but their families. Greenwood promotes a complete family as most important. He also urges researchers to consider all the spelling variations. "Family history...is a "marriage" of sorts between history and genealogy--what seemed like a most unlikely union in years past....Family history also includes...demography, geography, psychology, sociology, and literature." --A Rearcher's Guide My interest in family history is rooted in my lifelong fascination in history and biographies and understanding the past. When I learned that my great-grandfather Greenwood's nephew died in the Ranua death march during WWII it brought to life a history of which I had been ignorant. When I learn about ancestors who immigrated across Europe to Volyhnia, and note the social and political conflicts they were leaving behind, I realize the root causes of immigration have always been a part of population migration. There is so much information in Greenwood's book I realized it was not meant to be read it cover to cover. It is a remarkable acheivement. I received a copy of the book through Book Review Buzz in exchange for a fair and unbiased review Good instructional guidance is critical to the success of family history research, and this is where The Researcher's Guide is unsurpassed. It is both a textbook and an all-purpose reference book, designed to help the present generation of family history researchers better understand the methods and principles of family history research, and learn how to utilize all available resources. As Val Greenwood writes, "These are our ancestors we are talking about here; we owe it to them to get it right." from the publisher "Recommended as the most comprehensive how-to book on American genealogical and local history research."'Library Journal

Review # 2 was written on 2014-08-15 00:00:00 Garry Smith When I started doing genealogy in earnest many years ago, I discovered that I really didn't know what to do after pumping relatives for information. Everything was disorganized, scrawls on the back of envelopes, abbreviated notes scribbled on bits of paper, and it usually was not very well recorded. My recourse was to ask other genealogists for a good how-to book. There were several recommends and most of them added to my learning. My favorite of these recommendations was The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy by Val Greenwood. What made this source valuable to me was that it spoke to the various types of sources, how they might answer the next piece of the puzzle, and how to keep the materials organized. Even though the current edition of this book is weak in covering online sources, it is invaluable in learning about the many record types and methodology in genealogical research. It is easy to get hooked solely on online services such as Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. They offer huge general collections that can get us started on most research questions. But they often lead to relying on them exclusively. They are not strong or totally inclusive in some of the most important record groups, such as land, probate, court, and church records. Greenwood's book helps us to understand how these sources, often only available at a local court house or historical society, contribute to finding the evidence we need to build our tree or to slam through your genealogical brick wall. The chapter "Evaluation of Evidence" is a must read. There are entire books on the subject, but Greenwood gives an excellent concise discussion of the issue. There is also a chapter on successful correspondence. The book encompasses many other aspects of research, such as the impact of the property rights of women. We often hear presenters talk about what you have in your genealogy toolbox. This book is a good reminder that there are many sources other than the internet. I highly recommend this to everyone doing genealogical research.