Customer Reviews

Genealogy 101: How to Trace Your Family's History and Heritage

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Because genealogy is possibly the most popular hobby or avocation in the U.S. today, there is no shortage of how-to books aimed at the novice - though very few of them are really useful. Still, anyone publishing a new basic textbook faces stiff competition. The more expert and experienced the author, the more accurate the information presented is going to be, and Renick is certainly a widely-known and respected author and lecturer, as well as an experienced teacher. Moreover, she combines attention to the most essential lessons in fundamental genealogical instruction with an easy, informal style, successfully walking the narrow line between textbookishness and superficial offhandedness. She expects her audience to include not only complete novices, but those who attempted unsuccessfully to carry out family research without foreknowledge of methods and sources, and also those who have picked up bits of information on the Internet and don't quite know what to do with them. Of course, any well-written text can also serve as a refresher for the experienced family researcher.

For all these classes of reader, the author makes her key points early and often: Start with yourself. Record everything you find, and everything you don't find. Cite your sources for all of it. Don't throw anything out or disregard information that might be useful later, or to someone else. Don't make assumptions about names or dates or places, or anything else. There are excellent chapters on basic method (including answers to such beginners' questions as "How far back can I go?"), interviewing relatives (because Renick assumes you're interested primarily in researching your own family first, not someone else's), assembling your results in a logical way that identifies your next set of questions (organization is everything), and why and how to profitably use computers in keeping track of your research (without taking sides over the question of "best" software, though she uses Legacy for examples). She tends to spend less time on the best genealogical use of Internet resources, referring the reader instead to Online Roots, another volume in this series which is reviewed below. She'll show you in detail how to begin what she calls the Survey Phase and how to progress through it to the Research Phase, including how to document your search, how genealogists prefer to handle dates and abbreviations (and why), and goal-setting as a research tool. She covers libraries of all types, writing and reading queries, commercial electronic databases (though I wish she hadn't mentioned Brøderbund's World Family Tree series so uncritically), and the evaluation of compiled sources and published family histories. Then comes the Evaluation Phase, including how to properly evaluate data and construct hypotheses for testing, and how to recognize success when you experience it. (It's not always obvious.)

Finally, she addresses the questions of publishing what you've discovered (not just to stroke egos but to preserve your labors for future researchers), preserving photographs and fragile documents, whether or not you should consider joining lineage societies, and the role of serendipity, which genealogists learn early never to underestimate. You may need to consult a professional at some point, perhaps to carry out research for you overseas, and she provides excellent advice on all aspects of this complex subject. You may even want to become a "professional" of some kind yourself. And throughout all of this, Renick strews carefully targeted, tightly drawn anecdotes, taken mostly from her own diverse family, as illustrations of what she's saying.

So: Is this the "best book available"? It may well be. It's certainly a very strong contender. Anyone teaching a basic genealogy class could do far worse than to adopt this as their textbook. If you have a younger relative you're trying to interest in taking up the family's history, give them a copy. If you think you're too experienced to need a book with "101" in the title, read it anyway. You won't regret it.

This is a great book!! And a must-have for beginning and intermediate genealogists. I wish that it had been in the bookstores when I started working on my family history two years ago. Not only the rudimentary basics of querying family members are covered but also strategies for searching online--databases, library catalogs, and repositories.

Renick assists readers in developing a research strategy and tutors in the importance of accurate documentation. Get this book!!

As a member of the board of directors of the Association of Professional Genealogists, Barbara Renick brings a special expertise to Genealogy 101: How To Trace Your Family's History And Heritage. This handy and practical guide covers all of the steps of learning more about one's family, ranging from the tools available to a novice genealogist; to dealing with issues such as culture shock; and the good and bad aspects of using the internet as a resource. Genealogy 101 is strongly recommended as being a superbly organized and presented beginner's instructional manual. Also very highly recommended for the genealogical instructional reference shelf and published by Rutledge Hill Press is Online Roots: How To Discover Your Family's History And Heritage With The Power Of The Internet, the expert and collaborative effort of professional genealogists Pamela Boyer Porter and Amy Johnson Crow.

I am getting into geneology to see if we are related to Cotton Mather, the famous 18th century preacher involved with the Salem witch trials. There has always been a unproven rumor in my family that he is a cousin through my maternal great grandfather Mather's side of the family tree. As a result, knowing nothing about geneology, but being retired and having time to do research, maybe now is the time. I therefore bought a book with the most logical title, Geneology 101, written by an accomplished and enthusiastic geneologist of her own family, Barbera Renick, to get some general idea of how to proceed and what the ground-rules are.

Barbera Reneck has spent the last 30 years looking into her family history and seems almost like an evangelist for geneology. As a result,I found that her book was more information than I was looking for; but, then again, I need the lay of the land, and too much information might not necessarily be bad. She cautions us how important it is to cross-check and analyze information; for example, it is a good idea to double-check dates to make sure a person's age at birth, marriage, first child, and death flow and coordinate properly. Also, one should analyze the relative accuracies of the sources. A case in point is a death certificate, which is likely to be more accurate than an article in the paper covering the death, or a note in the family bible covering the death. She also recommended hooking up with a geneology society, reading geneological articles and newsletters, taking classes, and doing whatever you can do to get connected with the subject matter you are seeking.

I was a little surprised that she seemed to want to find every distant cousin and great great uncle in every branch of the family tree. Maybe I'll change my mind later, but now I am just interested in tracing my heritage back in time in a focused way, just going after direct ancestors. Who knows, maybe I'll change my mind later, and expand my research.

Since I hope to do most of my research online, I was pleased for the websites she recommended, and especially for recommending a follow-up book called Online Roots.

The book seems like a good starting point for someone new like myself. I'll let you know later.

Genealogy 101 by Barbara Renick is a College course in a 241 page book. A perfect book for the beginner or experienced family researcher. Each chapter is full of resources like online websites and addresses for societies and other services that every researcher may need.

Barbara Renick then adds her own stories of success and frustration to help drive each lesson home. Her stories re-enforce a point plus add some entertainment. Barbara's advice will help save me time and frustration. Like the saying goes, those who do not know history are bound to repeat it.

I personally have a drawer full of photo copies, notes, letters and pictures from 20 years of gathering little tidbits of my family history from many different family members. Sometimes the thought of organizing this information seems so daunting a task. Where do I start?

After reading this book, I feel very prepared and confident of where to start. I have a plan and so many resources that my tree should rapidly grow with my ancestors and their stories. I see this book becoming a well worn tool and companion on my genealogical journey that can now begin.

I've been doing genealogy - a lot - for about ten years and probably knew or heard everything in this book at some point (and sometimes from Barbara herself), but I still own it and I still get it out from time to time to jog my memory and remind myself what I should be doing.

So many beginners see the vast trove of genealogical data on the Internet and think it's so easy - it's all just there at the click of a mouse. Maybe so, and maybe not; probably not! If you don't know how to do the research, how will you know it what you find in cyberspace is right? First things first. This book is a good first thing.

Barbara writes like she talks: always bright and interesting. I highly recommend this book for anyone starting out and needing a "refresher."

This is a very good book for a beginer or seasoned genealogist.
It gives the basics for starting the hunt and suggestions for organizing all the information you acquire in your search. This is not a dry how to book, but one that keeps your interest.

As a total beginner at Genealogy I was looking for a book packed with beginner type info. I purchased this book and the book for dummies. The book for dummies was much better. It gives you lots of web sites to move your search along. This book is very limited and if not for the dummy book I may have just quit.