Tomorrow and the farther future

Remember our program tomorrow (Saturday) at 10:30am with John Wylie as our guest speaker. He'll talk about the pros and cons of using genealogy software instead of the paper and pencil method of tracking your research. He'll also talk about what features to look for in software programs.

These are my last few days working with the McKinney Public Library System. Next week Susan Kusterbeck takes over as our genealogy librarian. She will do a fine job of continuing to build our collection. She will, of course, continue to post to this blog weekly. When you can squeeze it in to your busy schedules, take time to come by and meet Susan.

New to the Collection in December 2010

Here are the new titles that arrived last month.

Naturalizations of foreign protestants in the American and West Indian colonies; Catawba County probates index 1843-1885; Ashe Co, NC marriage records 1817-1871; North Carolina Revolutionary Pensioners under the Acts of 1818 & 1832; West Virginia Revolutionary Ancestors – nonmilitary; Abstracts of the Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court of Maryland Vol. XII; Nineteenth Century Tennessee adoptions, legitimations, and name changes; History of Caswell County (NC) 1777-1977; Tennesseans before 1800: Washington Co and Davidson Co; Guide to County Records in the NC State Archives; Genealogical Abstracts from Shelby County, AL newspapers 1868-1888; AL artillery units and their organization within the Confederate Army; Early records of Calhoun City (MS) Baptist church; Colored patriots of the American Revolution with sketches of several distinguished colored persons; Veterans of Tallahatchie Co, MS; St. Peter’s Episcopal Church Delaware OH 1817-1918; Hancock Co, IN Civil War soldiers plus related facts; Rhea Co, TN tax lists 1832-1834 and county court minutes 1829-1834; Eskridge’s early history of Tallahatchie Co, MS; Jefferson Co, TN court minutes 1792-1795; Hamilton Co, OH burial records Crosby and Whitewater Township Cemeteries; Mississippi Soldiers revolutionary, 1812, Indian and Mexican wars; Cemeteries of Grenada Co, MS and surrounding areas; Descendants of early settlers of Perry Co, MS; Dearborn Co, IN cemetery records Jackson Township, Kelso Township, Manchester Township, York Township; Sullivan Co, TN cemeteries; Newspaper Extracts from “The Hoosier State” Newport Vermillion Co, IN 1874-1875; Deed Abstracts of Warren County, KY 1797-1821; Athens (GA) Rotary Club History; Abstracts from the Clarksville Standard (TX) Jan 2 , 1858-May 25, 1861; 1783 Tax List of Baltimore Co, MD; Records of Middlesex Co, VA; Company A of the Fortieth GA infantry regiment in the Confederate Service; History of Methodism in Tennessee.

Don't forget our program with guest speaker John Wylie on January 22 at 10:30am.

Should I use software to track my genealogy research?

Or am I fine with the papers in files?  Join us Saturday, January 22, 2011 at 10:30am for a presentation by John Wylie on the pros and cons of using genealogy software to track your family history research. Learn how to pick the software program that’s right for you. A professional genealogist since 1990, John Wyle serves the Texas State Genealogical Society as 1st VP, the Association of Professional Genealogists as national secretary (2006-2009) and the Grand Prairie Genealogical Society as past president and current library liaison. He is the founder of Gentech.


No pre-registration required.

Guide to County Records in the North Carolina State Archives/Holiday closings

If you have ancestors who lived in North Carolina you might want to take a look at our new source Guide to County Records in the North Carolina State Archives (12th revised ed.) It is a county-by-county information source for what records are available there including such items as tax and fiscal records, land records, court records, corporations and partnerships, and estate records in addition to the usual vital records we all look for. This source will be on our new items shelf this month and next month and then you can find it at R Gen 929.3756 NOR.

Holiday Hours: We are open today and tomorrow 10am-6pm. Then we are closed December 23-26 and will reopen Dec 27 for normal hours. Then we'll be closed again December 31 and January 1 and resume normal hours January 2, 2011.

Be sure you have your calendar marked for our program January 22 at 10:30am.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Early American Handwriting

You do not have to research too far into your family history before you are bound to run into handwritten documents. Reading the handwriting can be a real research headache. It's amazing how much the letters have changed through the years. Once you've figured out the letters and words then you have to know what they meant in the context of the time. One of the books we have in our collection to help you with this task is a book by Kip Sperry entitled Reading Early American Handwriting (copyright 1998. Published by Genealogical Publishing Co, Inc.). In this book Sperry notes "many of the colonial American handwriting styles passed through several phases, deriving principally from secretary hand and court hand used in Great Britain during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Other influences were from the Italic hand and Latin script. Although some consistency may be seen on colonial American documents, handwriting styles varied in different parts of the country and for different time periods." Chapter titles include "guidelines for reading old documents, abbreviations and contractions, terms, numbers and Roman numerals, dates and calendar change", and a whole chapter on alphabets and handwriting styles. When you find a document you can't decipher, come check out this book and see if it will help you. It can be found at Gen 427.973 SPE

Naturalizations of Foreign Protestants in the American and West Indian Colonies

In the early 1700s King George II of England issued an Act that allowed for those who had lived in the American or West Indian Colonies for at least 7 years, with some exceptions, to become naturalized citizens of England. The list was begun in the Colonies in 1740. Many of these individuals, of course, produced descendants who later became Americans. This book (title above) was first published in 1921. It "contains all the returns sent from the Colonies to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations in pursuance of  Act 13 George II." The lists continued until roughly 1765. The  individuals were naturalized in Jamaica, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. The book has small type so bring your magnifying glass, but there's a nice 30 page index of names, as wells as state divisions within the book. You can find this new source on our new books shelf for the next couple of months and then at R Gen 929.373 NAT.

Our newest collection items

Here's a list of the titles added to our shelves in November.

Baptists of Shelby Co, AL; Point Lookout Prison Camp for Confederates; Marriage returns of Shelby Co, IN 1895-1898; Beaufort Co, NC will books 1720-1874; Beaufort Co, NC deeds Oct 1700-July 1709; Beaufort Co, NC tax list for 1779, 1784, 1786, 1789; Anson Co, NC wills 1790-1900; Genealogy Online 9^th ed.; NC Slaves and Free Persons of Color: Burke, Lincoln and Rowan Counties; Abstracts of the Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court of Maryland 1712-1721; Abstracts of Carteret Co, NC deeds 1713-1759; History of the Twenty-Ninth Division “Blue and Gray” 1917-1919; American Treasure: the enduring spirit of the DAR; Marriages of Loudoun Co, VA; Plano and the Interurban Railway; American Genealogical Research at the DAR Washington, D.C.; History of Georgia Methodism; Copy of the Original Index Book showing the Revolutionary Claims field in South Carolina between August 20, 1783 and August 31, 1786.

You'll find these on our new items shelf until the first week of January. Hope some are helpful in your research.