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In Search of Your European Roots : A Complete Guide to Tracing Your Ancestors

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This book provides excellent genealogical resources to help you find your European ancestors from Portugal to Greece.

Baxter explains some of the considerations that are unique to each country. For example, France has a '100 years law' that limits the information that you can access if an individual's record is within the last 100 years. In Italy, there is a record called the Certificate of Family Genealogy (Certificato dello Stato di Famiglia) that can be especially useful. Research in Scandinavian countries, Wales and some areas of the Netherlands and Germany can be difficult because the surnames often changed with each generation.

Some countries receive more or less coverage in this book. For Albania, where most of the church records have been destroyed, there is just a short history. For other countries, there are lists of records, major family names, archives with addresses that you can write to, and information about how records are kept in that country. Often dates are provided indicating when the country first began census and/or church records.

Overall, this book has great details!

Unless your ancestors walked the land bridge 10000 years ago, you will want this book to learn how you got here. In addition to learning details about emigrating from your particular homeland, you can find out about some European history in general terms that you may have missed in college. Although written before the breakup of the USSR, the section dealing with the former soviet republics gives a hint as to the chances of success you may expect if that was your home. Details such as the data in Canada from the Russian consul, and the small number of embarkation points in European ports should prove to be invaluable as you start your search.

No genealogist should be without this book.

Now in a completely revised, updated, and expanded fourth edition, Angus Baxter's In Search Of Your European Roots continues to be the premier guide for the novice genealogist seeking trace ancestors in any and every country throughout Europe. The location of each country's national and municipal archives is recorded, in addition to the location of church records, census returns, the system of civil registrations of births, marriages, and deaths, along with pertinent recommendations on finding and using such records as foundling books, orphans' lists, certificates of domicile, guild records, internal passports, confirmation records, and vaccination lists. Here are a highly recommended wealth of telephone numbers, email addresses, fax numbers, and website addresses for most of the major European archives and genealogically relevant organizations. Of special note in this new edition is the attention paid to the changes brought about by German reunification, the break-up of the Soviet Union, and the dismemberments of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia into smaller political states.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments v
Foreword vii
Introduction to Europe 1
The LDS Church Records 9
Jewish Records 19
Albania 31
Andorra 32
Austria 33
Belarus 48
Belgium 50
Bosnia and Herzegovina 58
Bulgaria 60
Croatia 63
Cyprus 66
The Czech Republic 68
Denmark 78
Estonia 88
Finland 90
France 98
Germany 111
Greece 158
Herzegovina (see also Bosnia and Herzegovina) 161
Hungary 162
Iceland 172
Italy 176
Kosovo (see Yugoslavia)
Latvia 185
Liechtenstein 188
Lithuania 190
Luxembourg 192
Macedonia 194
Malta 196
Moldova 198
Monaco 199
Montenegro (see Yugoslavia)
The Netherlands (Holland) 201
Norway 220
Poland 230
Portugal 240
Romania 247
Russia 251
San Marino 257
Serbia (see Yugoslavia)
Slovakia 258
Slovenia 262
Spain 264
Sweden 273
Switzerland 281
Ukraine 292
Vojvodina (see Yogoslavia)
Yugoslavia 294
Bibliography 303
Genealogical Societies and Web Sites 309
Index 313

This is the best all around book on European Genealogy. The chapter on Italy is very complete and up to date.

Flavio Andreatta, President
The Italian Genealogy and Heraldry Society of Canada

European Roots book is a good reference book to help delve into the history of the families that came to America in the early 18-1900's. Good book.