Once genealogists and local historians have learned everything they can from internet sources, the next step is reading and understanding older documents. The author details how to find and comprehend documents in England, Wales and Scotland from 1560 to 1860. These can be hard to find, are often written in challenging handwriting and use Latin, antiquated English or Scots.
Get Your Research in Order! Stop struggling to manage all your genealogy facts, files, and data--make a plan of attack to maximize your progress. Organize Your Genealogy will show you how to use tried-and-true methods and the latest tech tools and genealogy software to organize your research plan, workspace, and family-history finds. In this book, you'll learn how to organize your time and resources, including how to set goals and objectives, determine workable research questions, sort paper and digital documents, keep track of physical and online correspondence, prepare for a research trip, and follow a skill-building plan. With this comprehensive guide, you'll make the most of your research time and energy and put yourself on a road to genealogy success. Organize Your Genealogy features: • Secrets to developing organized habits that will maximize your research time and progress • Hints for setting up the right physical and online workspaces • Proven, useful systems for organizing paper and electronic documents • Tips for managing genealogy projects and goals • The best tools for organizing every aspect of your ancestry research • Easy-to-use checklists and worksheets to apply the book's strategies Whether you're a newbie seeking best practices to get started or a seasoned researcher looking for new and better ways of getting organized, this guide will help you manage every facet of your ancestry research.
Zotero offers genealogists a powerful and versatile citation manager, an endless file cabinet, go-anywhere access to research, a flexible organizational structure, and the ability to file one thing in many places. Developed by George Mason University and used by scholars worldwide, this robust product serves research in phenomenal ways. Best of all, for all its value, Zotero is free to download. An avid Zotero user since graduate school, author Donna Cox Baker proves it to be the perfect complement to genealogical research. Not only does it eliminate file cabinets, binders, and stacks of unfiled papers, it brings your voluminous research anywhere you have Internet access. Zotero for Genealogy teaches Zotero from installation to advance add-ons, using exercises and illustrations to enhance the learning experience. Baker teaches readers how to get the most out of Zotero and shares the various methods she has developed to maximize its value to genealogy. What Zotero can do for a genealogist ◆ Eliminate paper and physical filing, replacing every file cabinet, box, and paper stack you used to think you had to have. ◆ Eliminate thousands of keystrokes as Zotero creates citations for you with the click of a button. ◆ Access your citations and notes virtually anywhere you have Wi-Fi and a computing device. ◆ Extract the comments you have made and the passages you have highlighted in a PDF, drawing them into Zotero without retyping. ◆ Find anything you have stored, with lightning-fast smart searching-even things you stored away years ago and remember only vaguely if at all. ◆ Replace the standard genealogy research log with something much better and more powerful. ◆ Build a smart to-do list that eliminates repetitive data entry and is there whenever you need it. Table of Contents PART I: ZOTERO GENERAL OVERVIEW Getting started with Zotero Documenting your research Organizing research collections Managing your attachments Searching, sorting and finding your research PART II: ZOTERO ADD-ONS Zotero Connectors & instant data entry ZotFile & advanced PDF management Word processing & painless citation PART III: APPLYING ZOTERO TO GENEALOGY Organizing your filing system One source or many: a choice Working with Evidence Explained Creating your research to-do-list Efficient note-taking Zotero on research trips Collaborating with others
This is a comprehensive, illustrated guide to tracing British ancestry, equally suitable for beginners and those who have already started the search for their roots. The book guides the researcher for their roots. The book guides the researcher through the substantial British archives with a detailed finding aids or indexes. the early chapters include advice on obtaining information from relatives, drawing on family trees and starting research in the records of births, marriages and deaths, or in census records; later chapters guide researchers to the records that are ore that are more difficult to find and use, such as legal and property records.
Do you have a box of mementos you'd love to turn into a book? Discover where to start and how to choose a format to bring your ancestry to life. Have you inherited the responsibility of preserving your family history? Do you wish you could transform your old photos and artifacts into entertaining tales? Want to record all those great remember-when's but worry your writing will bore your relatives to tears? Author and writing instructor Annette Gendler has helped countless eager writers over her many years of teaching at StoryStudio Chicago. Now she'll show you how you can turn your treasured family saga into a captivating narrative you'll be proud to share. How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History is a concise guide for converting your heirlooms and oral anecdotes into engaging prose. Following Annette Gendler's step-by-step instructions, you'll learn how to decide which memories are best suited to chronicle your loved ones' unique journeys through life, and what makes them an absorbing read. Supported with personal examples and writing prompts at the end of each chapter, you'll quickly be giving voice to your ancestors' adventures. You'll discover: - How to prioritize all those photos, letters, diaries, and official documents- Sample passages and an extensive reading list to inspire your creativity - Ways to craft stories that won't put your readers to sleep - Tips for dealing with negativity, missing materials, or too much information - Methods for conducting research to ensure accuracy, and much, much more! How to Write Compelling Stories from Family History is a must-have resource for anyone interested in preserving their lineage. If you like actionable advice, no-frills-added instructions, and guidance from a memoir specialist, then you'll love Annette Gendler's easy approach.
This book is the ideal companion for anybody researching their family tree. It provides advice and inspiration on methods and problem-solving and helps the amateur family historian understand what successful professionals do to get results, and why we should copy them. Over ten chapters, it examines the various themes that affect the success or failure of all genealogy research. This begins with an overview of common challenges genealogists encounter and continues with an examination of how to both search effectively and find the right documentary sources. Using examples from her own family history as well as client work, teacher and professional genealogist Helen Osborn demonstrates how to get the most from documents, analyse problems and build research plans. These subjects lead on to recording results, how to ensure relationships are correctly proved, organizing information and presenting your findings. This book will be particularly valuable to anyone who is stuck with their research, in addition to those who are keen to learn about advanced skills and methods used by genealogists.
Genealogically and historically, Kent is an important maritime county which has played a prime defensive role in English history. It is large and diverse and replete with great houses, castles and other family homes, many with their own archives. It is also a fascinating area of research for family and local historians, and David Wrights handbook is the perfect guide to it. For thirty-five years he has been working with the various Kent archives, and his extensive experience means he is uniquely well placed to introduce them to other researchers and show how they can be used. He summarizes the many different classes of Kent records, both national and local. For the first time he draws together the best of modern indexing and cataloguing along with other long-established sources to produce a balanced and up-to-date overview of Kentish genealogical sources where to find them, their contents and utility to researchers. Tracing Your Kent Ancestors is essential reading and reference for newcomers to family history, and it will be a mine of practical information for researchers who have already started to work in the field.
A practical and comprehensive work on reading and translating old handwriting and abbreviations,particularly medieval and Latin writing, with examples and commentary.
