Ancestry.com- Shaking Your Family Tree, September 24, 1998

		Member Login \| My Account \| Guest Registry

| | | |


Learn > Articles & Columns > Daily News > Current Article

Shaking Your Family Tree

September 24, 1998

Shaking Your Family Tree, by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.

IT'S AUTUMN: TIME TO HIT THE BOOKS

by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.

Researching ancestors in myriad records and many localities is an ongoing educational process. Here are some new books you may find helpful.

Reading Early American Handwriting by Kip Sperry, 8 1/2x11, 289 pp., $33.49 postpaid. It is available from Genealogical Publishing Co., 1001 N. Calvert St. Baltimore, MD 21202, (800) 296-6687. Designed to teach a genealogist how to read almost any early American document, the handwriting samples are laid out in order of increasing difficulty beginning with 19th-century documents and working backward in time. Chapters covering abbreviations and contractions, terms, numbers and Roman numerals, dates and calendar change, and sample alphabets and handwriting styles provide the background. There are no shortcuts to learning to transcribe old documents, but this book will teach you the fundamentals of American paleography.

Native American Directory, Alaska, Canada, U.S. 880 pp., $65.95 postpaid, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, available from Native American Co-Op, P.O. Box 27626, Tucson, AZ 85726. Divided into five sections, it includes information about Indian stores, galleries, trading posts, events, organizations, media outlets, tribal offices and reserves and ancestry. The sections generally follow this sequence:

General description, demographics, and statistics of the native people in that region. Tribal profiles (historic and economic), listing each tribe of that area. National, regional, governmental organizations. Print, broadcast, and television media Calendar of events for each region.
The library edition of this directory, (ISBN 09610334-3-6), includes a 42x45-inch wall map of Indian land areas, printed by the U.S. Geological Service, and has an updated detailed listing of all state and federally recognized tribes in the U.S. The directory is a must for libraries as it contains a great deal of current information on Native Americans that is difficult to find elsewhere.

Sumter County, Alabama Wills 1828-1872; Mortality Schedules: 1850-1880, by Gwendolyn Lynette Hester, 496 pp., $38.98 postpaid, is available from Southern Roots, 11620 Audelia, Suite 122, Dallas, TX 75243-5675. (Texas residents should add 8.25 percent sales tax).

Sumter County was established in 1832 from Choctaw lands and was settled by people primarily from the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland. The wills included date from the earliest recorded in the county until 1872; names of all individuals appear in bold italics, which makes it easier to locate names on pages. All of the abstracts are referenced by page number to actual courthouse wills.

The index contains names of all individuals -- free, slave, free people of color, freedmen — listed in the wills and mortality schedules. This is a beautifully compiled and printed book. It is an important source for those researching their families in Sumter County, Alabama.

Early Church Records of Delaware County, Pennsylvania Volume 2, by Henry C. Peden Jr., and John Pitts Launey, 358 pp., $35.50 postpaid, is available from Family Line Publications, Rear 63 E. Main Street, Westminster, MD 21157; (800) 876-6103.

It contains Concord's Quaker marriage records (1681-1800), births and deaths (1682-1800), names of Friends who "married out'' (1757-1800), and Concord Monthly Meeting Minutes, 1684-1800. The majority of Concord Quakers were English, with a small number of Welsh and Irish. These English Quakers arrived either at the port of Philadelphia or Chester with the largest number coming from Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and neighboring counties in the southeast of England.

Additionally, the book contains marriages and baptisms (1761-1773) of Forks of Brandywine Presbyterian Church, baptisms, deaths, marriages, and minutes of the Brandywine Baptist Church, plus the Sexton's Journal of Middletown Graveyard.

(c) 1998, Los Angeles Times Syndicate

Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter

Return to Myra Vanderpool Gormley Main Page
Return to Columns Main Page

Copyright 1998, 1999, Ancestry.com Inc. and its subsidiaries.
Terms and Conditions | Privacy Statement

September 24, 1998
	IT'S AUTUMN: TIME TO HIT THE BOOKS by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.
Researching ancestors in myriad records and many localities is an ongoing educational process. Here are some new books you may find helpful. Reading Early American Handwriting by Kip Sperry, 8 1/2x11, 289 pp., $33.49 postpaid. It is available from Genealogical Publishing Co., 1001 N. Calvert St. Baltimore, MD 21202, (800) 296-6687. Designed to teach a genealogist how to read almost any early American document, the handwriting samples are laid out in order of increasing difficulty beginning with 19th-century documents and working backward in time. Chapters covering abbreviations and contractions, terms, numbers and Roman numerals, dates and calendar change, and sample alphabets and handwriting styles provide the background. There are no shortcuts to learning to transcribe old documents, but this book will teach you the fundamentals of American paleography. Native American Directory, Alaska, Canada, U.S. 880 pp., $65.95 postpaid, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, available from Native American Co-Op, P.O. Box 27626, Tucson, AZ 85726. Divided into five sections, it includes information about Indian stores, galleries, trading posts, events, organizations, media outlets, tribal offices and reserves and ancestry. The sections generally follow this sequence: General description, demographics, and statistics of the native people in that region. Tribal profiles (historic and economic), listing each tribe of that area. National, regional, governmental organizations. Print, broadcast, and television media Calendar of events for each region. The library edition of this directory, (ISBN 09610334-3-6), includes a 42x45-inch wall map of Indian land areas, printed by the U.S. Geological Service, and has an updated detailed listing of all state and federally recognized tribes in the U.S. The directory is a must for libraries as it contains a great deal of current information on Native Americans that is difficult to find elsewhere. Sumter County, Alabama Wills 1828-1872; Mortality Schedules: 1850-1880, by Gwendolyn Lynette Hester, 496 pp., $38.98 postpaid, is available from Southern Roots, 11620 Audelia, Suite 122, Dallas, TX 75243-5675. (Texas residents should add 8.25 percent sales tax). Sumter County was established in 1832 from Choctaw lands and was settled by people primarily from the Carolinas, Virginia, and Maryland. The wills included date from the earliest recorded in the county until 1872; names of all individuals appear in bold italics, which makes it easier to locate names on pages. All of the abstracts are referenced by page number to actual courthouse wills. The index contains names of all individuals -- free, slave, free people of color, freedmen — listed in the wills and mortality schedules. This is a beautifully compiled and printed book. It is an important source for those researching their families in Sumter County, Alabama. Early Church Records of Delaware County, Pennsylvania Volume 2, by Henry C. Peden Jr., and John Pitts Launey, 358 pp., $35.50 postpaid, is available from Family Line Publications, Rear 63 E. Main Street, Westminster, MD 21157; (800) 876-6103. It contains Concord's Quaker marriage records (1681-1800), births and deaths (1682-1800), names of Friends who "married out'' (1757-1800), and Concord Monthly Meeting Minutes, 1684-1800. The majority of Concord Quakers were English, with a small number of Welsh and Irish. These English Quakers arrived either at the port of Philadelphia or Chester with the largest number coming from Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and neighboring counties in the southeast of England. Additionally, the book contains marriages and baptisms (1761-1773) of Forks of Brandywine Presbyterian Church, baptisms, deaths, marriages, and minutes of the Brandywine Baptist Church, plus the Sexton's Journal of Middletown Graveyard. (c) 1998, Los Angeles Times Syndicate Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter Return to Myra Vanderpool Gormley Main Page Return to Columns Main Page
Copyright 1998, 1999, Ancestry.com Inc. and its subsidiaries. Terms and Conditions \| Privacy Statement