Your Basic Home Library Contains . . .
Your house probably has a number of books that you use for other purposes but which can be called upon for excellent genealogical reference. These include:

Dictionary
Your trusty Webster's, Random House or other dictionary may seem pretty obvious, but consider the types of information you can find there. I found the following under the letter C:

1) Proper names - David (Davy) Crockett (1786-1836), U.S. frontiersman, politician and folklore hero. (Not only do I now know that his real name was David and the years of his life span, but I now am aware that he was a politician. Further research, either at the library or on the Internet reveals that he also served as a Congressman.)

2) Profession definition - The dictionary defined for me the difference between a courier and a currier.

3) Currencies of the World - The dictionary I use includes a table of countries of the world and their unit of currency. From there, I can refer to entries on each monetary unit and perhaps do deeper research at the library or on the Internet.

4) Medical information - One of my ancestors was a physician in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Two references to him refer to his treating patients for consumption (another name for tuberculosis) and to his refusal to practice cupping (drawing blood to relieve congestion).

Road Atlas or Maps
Maps are handy for the highway, of course, but you can use current maps as a starting point in your search for records for your ancestors. Remember, it is important to look in the right place for records, and geopolitical boundaries and government jurisdictions change over the years. I use the Rand-McNally Road Atlas, Deluxe Edition, as a starting point to determine the location of a place and its current county. From there, I determine the time period for the event in my ancestor's life that I am researching, such as a marriage. At that point, I can proceed to the library to check the county, state, province, country, etc., that had jurisdiction over the site at the time in question. I then know where to go or to write to obtain copies of records or other information about my ancestor's event. You can also purchase more detailed maps of areas in question. If you are a member of the American Automobile Association (AAA), use your membership benefits and obtain some of their excellent maps of the areas that you are researching.

Encyclopedia
If you have an encyclopedia in your home, even an older one, you can locate plenty of important historical information to help with your research. Encyclopedia articles describing countries' histories or subjects such as the Irish Potato Famine, the Huguenots, or the persecution of Jews, can provide excellent background information to your understanding of the circumstances under which your ancestors may have left Europe or elsewhere.

Old School History Books
Perhaps you have saved the state or national history books you used or that your children used in school. These volumes can also provide excellent reference resources as you are investigating your ancestors' lives. I recently went looking for available histories of North and South Carolina. I discovered that there are few new books available for sale, and a trip to the library revealed that books used as junior high and high school textbooks contained sufficient material to answer the questions I had.

Telephone Directories
The telephone directories, both white and yellow pages, are an excellent reference resource. Here you can locate people by surname, businesses dealing in genealogical and office supplies, government offices, courthouses, vital records offices, libraries, genealogical and historical societies, chambers of commerce, funeral homes, cemeteries, newspapers, and a wide variety of other topics that you might want to learn about or obtain information from. Don't neglect to contact telephone companies serving areas where you are researching. You can usually request and receive directories for these places at little or no charge.

Multipurpose Materials
These common books can become important reference materials for your research. They can help you prepare for research in these places before you leave home. This could save you many hours of time you might have spent in the library doing quality research, or it might help you schedule your research time in another city more effectively. Take a look around your own home and see what materials you have that might double as genealogical research and reference tools. Use your imagination and "think outside the lines." You'll be surprised at what you'll discover right under your nose.

Happy hunting!

George

The article originally appeared in the Genealogy Forum on America Online. You may send e-mail to alonglines@aol.com. George Morgan would like to hear from you but, because of the volume of e-mail, is unable to personally respond to each letter individually. He also regrets that he cannot assist you with your personal genealogical research. Visit George Morgan's new Web page at: http://members.aol.com/alonglines.

George is also the author of The Genealogy Forum on America Online, which is available in the Ancestry Online Store at: http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog/
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