Published by Genealogy.com, LLC in collaboration with Genealogical Publishing Company; 1001 North Calvert Street; Baltimore, MD 21202; 2000. CD-ROM. System requirements: CD-ROM drive, version 3.02 or higher of Family Tree Maker for Windows or Macintosh or Family Archive Viewer (free upon request or download). $39.99, plus shipping.

These Family Tree Maker® CDs–two discs in each set–reproduce several biographical- type works (commonly called "mug books") and other mostly turn-of-the-century genealogical compilations of one to four volumes that have been reprinted by GPC and Clearfield Company over the past 30 years (and in three cases originally published by GPC in the 1970s and 1980s).

The New York CD includes two collections edited by William Richard Cutter: Genealogical and Family History of Central New York (1912) and Families of Western New York [originally Volume 1 of Genealogical and Family History of New York] (1912). There are two collections edited by Cuyler Richards: Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley (1914) and Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs (1911). Also, William S. Pelletreau’s Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Family History of New York (1907) and Sebastian V. Talcott’s Genealogical Notes of New York and New England Families (1883) are included.

The Connecticut CD has nine titles, including a collection edited by Cutter: New England Families: Genealogical and Memorial (1913). This title, however, is not mentioned in the introductory material to the CD, but Cutter’s Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut (1911) is, although this work is not on the CD. There are three works published for the Connecticut Society of Genealogists: Susan Woodruff Abbott’s Families of Early Milford, Connecticut and Alvan Talcott’s Families of Early Guilford, Connecticut (1984)–both edited by Jacquelyn L. Riker–and Lucius Barnes Barbour’s Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut (1977). Also here are William Cothren’s History of Ancient Woodbury, Connecticut (1854), Nathaniel Goodwin’s Genealogical Notes, or Contributions to the Family History of Some of the First Settlers of Connecticut and Massachusetts (1856), Donald Lines Jacobus’s History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield (1930—32) and Supple-ment (1943), and the genealogical volumes from two works by Henry R. Stiles: Families of Ancient Wethersfield, Connecticut [Volume 2 of The History of Ancient Wethersfield] (1904) and Families of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut [Volume 2 of The History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Connecticut] (1892).

With so many titles to list in this review, there is not enough space to describe each one or present a cautionary discussion of the great variance in the reliability of the information presented. I trust, however, that most readers of GC are at least somewhat aware of the shortcomings of "mug books" and similar volumes that focus heavily on bare bones genealogical material. Jacobus’s well-referenced volumes on Fairfield, Connecticut are far preferable to one of the Cutter compilations.

Nevertheless, all of the books reproduced on these CDs have some value for genealogical–and to some extent, historical–research, and the usefulness of having them on CD is what will be discussed here. There are three main advantages.

First, the buyer gets more for the buck in terms of cost and space. Individually purchasing the hard copy reprints of the volumes would be significantly more expensive than the cost of the two CD sets. Two CDs, of course, also take up a fraction of the space of the actual books.

Second, most photocopiers are made for paper, not books–copying can damage books. Printing pages from a CD-ROM does not. Indeed, viewing the text and illustrations in these works on a computer screen is quite acceptable, and even where the text seems a little broken up, using the enlarging feature makes it quite readable. The copies I printed also reproduced well.

Third, there are full-name indexes on the CDs that are not found in most of the original volumes or reprints. This can lead a researcher to many helpful discoveries that could otherwise only be found by reading through all the material.

I accessed the books on the CDs through the FTM program, but somewhat annoyingly, one of these CDs cannot be opened directly without having something entered in an FTM file first. As noted above, one of the advantages of these types of CDs over the actual books is the all-name indexes. Each CD set has a consolidated index reproduced on it; the index shows the name, the CD on which the name can be found, the title and volume, and the page number. Typically, the alphabetical index can be searched by scrolling, and clicking on a name will bring up the image of the page on which that name appears. From there, one can move to previous and next pages, enlarge the image, print the page, and copy to the clipboard. A search alternative is available through the Search Expert, where a name or even the book and page number can be entered. Wildcard and Boolean searches are possible, and fortunately, one can also search on just a first name. By using the Search Expert feature, however, you encounter one of the continuing FTM annoyances: getting through the screen with the choices "Search…for Someone from your Family File" or "Search …for Someone not from your Family File."

Some may argue that CD sets such as these simply continue the proliferation of undocumented and often erroneous works when there is so much other potentially more useful material that could be made available. When used carefully, however, these CDs and the works on them can be useful.

Return to the Spring 2001 Genealogical Computing table of contents.