I am inspired by Heather Wilkinson Rojo's post, What Did Genea-Santa Bring? Christmas Books 2024 to list the genealogy books to which I treated myself to in 2024. I did get books for Christmas, but none in the genealogy area. I took advantage of a sale by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, of which I'm a member, to buy a selection of books relating to my early New England roots.
Robert Charles Anderson, FASG: The Great Migration Directory: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1640. This is indeed a directory: an alphabetical listing of the names of all who have been found to have been part of the Great Migration in those twenty years. My eighth great-grandfather, Samuel Packard, is first in line under the letter "P." Samuel's entry gives the port in England from which he sailed, which was Wymondham, Norfolk. Samuel was actually from Stonham Aspal, Suffolk. He sailed on the ship Diligent, as the entry says. Research revealed to me that Samuel had with him his wife Elizabeth, whose surname is not yet known, and their first child, an infant daughter. They landed at Hingham, removed to Weymouth, and finally settled in Bridgewater, as this entry shows. I have found that he lived in the part of Bridgewater that became North Bridgewater and is known today as Brockton.
Robert Charles Anderson, FASG: The Mayflower Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth, 1620. As I am, through my decent from Samuel Packard, a direct descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, I was elected to membership in the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. My sixth great-grandfather Zaccheus Packard (the younger), Samuel Packard's grandson, married Mercy Alden, the great-granddaughter of John and Priscilla. I just had to have this book. Of benefit to practicing family historians and genealogists investigating early New England roots is Mr. Anderson's discussion of the methodology and sources he employed in his research for this book. There is a 16-page background on the "gathering" of the persons aboard Mayflower. And, again, my family takes a first spot. The sketches lead off with John Alden. The sketches are lengthy, with sources given in the narrative. One of these days, I may have time to run these all down.
Robert Charles Anderson, FASG: Puritan Pedigrees: the Deep Roots of the Great Migration to New England. While my line is not listed in this volume, I value it for the background it describes for the Great Migration which brought so many new settlers from England to New England. As a historian, I'm what's called an annaliste, which means I love background. If you don't know where you've been, you might know where you're going, but you most likely don't know why you're going. Why our ancestors did things is just as interesting as where and when they did them, and just as much a part of their lives and ours as the where and when.
I also tapped the Genealogical Publishing Company during the year:
Susan E. Roser, Mayflower Increasings, 2nd Edition. This is a revision and expansion of the original edition, with "more names, dates, and sources that were missing from the original," as Ms. Roser says in the Preface. Ms. Roser only explores the first three generations, rather than the five generations presented in the multiple volumes of Mayflower Families Through Five Generations ("the Silver Books"). Each of these works can supplement the other.
Drew Smith: Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy. This work is in two parts. The first part discusses generally the basic tenets of genealogy research. It is a good basic grounding in the process. The second part breaks down, by generation (providing a specific spread of years for each) what to look for and what you may expect to find in genealogical research during each of those spans of years in doing basic genealogical research. It never hurts to go back to the basics.
Then I found a few books by various authors and publishers:
Blaine T. Bettinger and Debbie Parker Wayne: Genetic Genealogy in Practice (National Genealogical Society Special Topics Series). First in this book is a basic overview of genetics. Then there is a review of standards and ethics. The rest of the book discusses the various types of DNA testing -- Y-DNA, Mitochondrial DNA, and so forth. Included in each chapter are exercises and case studies.
Diahan Southard: Your DNA Guide (the Book): Step by Step Plans to Connect You with Your Family Using Your DNA. This is probably the level on which I should enter the area of genetic genealogy. Having been a registered nurse, I understand the medical and physiological aspects of DNA, but the genealogical aspect of it is different. There is an accompanying workbook, for working on the exercises in the book.
Debbie Parker Wayne, editor: Advanced Genetic Genealogy: Techniques and Case Studies. I should probably go through the previous two books on genetic genealogy a couple times each before I tackle this one. This is one thick book! There is a whale of a lot of information, with each chapter having been written by an individual with expertise in the particular topic or topics covered in the chapter. Judy G. Russell, "The Legal Genealogist," has a chapter on the ethics of genetic genealogy. [My copy of the book is autographed by Ms. Russell.] There's a chapter by an MD on the medical aspects of the raw DNA data behind the tests. Another chapter covers the relationship of genetic genealogy and the Genealogical Proof Standard.
Finally, two books on a subject less intimidating to me than DNA:
Christina Kassabian Schaefer: The Hidden Half of the Family: A Sourcebook for Women's Genealogy. This is a state-by-state sourcebook on various aspects of the particular difficulties of searching for female ancestors in an Anglo-based legal system, because of the long tradition of women changing their surnames to their husband's surname. Researching female ancestors is not quite as difficult in Romance-language countries like Spain and France. Women are named under their own name, or under a decipherable combination of names. Listings for each state cover such topics as Marriage and Divorce, Property and Inheritance, Voting (under the heading "Suffrage"), and more. Some sources are given, with others implied, such as listing for Dade County marriages, with the information that marriage information is available from county records clerks at the courthouses. The copyright date of 1999 suggests one might do well to check for the currency of the information.
Sharon DeBartolo Carmack: Telling Her Story: A Guide to Researching and Writing about Women of the Past. This book's 2024 copyright date indicates more up-to-date information than in the book listed above. Still, it is always best to check your state's information, either at the town, county, or state level. Ms. Carmack provides numerous case studies to illustrate the points raised in each chapter, beginning with the problem of determining a married woman's maiden name. Again, this is an artifact of an Anglo-based culture. The author examines sources created specifically for information about women, with research strategies and examples. The succeeding chapter deals with diaries, journals, letters, memoirs. It is a lucky researcher that has more than just a few of these. My grandma saved the letters she and her husband exchanged when he was traveling for his job with railroads. My mother did not save the letters of herself and my father during World War II.
That's a taste of the books I indulged in last year.
