Books aid ethnic searches
Reviewed by Adam Rose
Discovering Your Immigrant & Ethnic Ancestors by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack. (2000, 260 pages, paperback, $18.99) Betterway Books, 1507 Dana Avenue, Cincinnati OH 45207.
Sharon DeBartolo Carmack shares her diverse professional genealogical expertise regularly in this magazine and also in Discovering Your Immigrant & Ethnic Ancestors.
The “Getting your genealogical research started” section is a guide for those just starting to search. It shows you how to collect your family’s oral history – and separate fact from myth, understand historical trends that might affect your research, develop strategies for tracing ancestors back to their arrival in America, successfully locate and interpret naturalization, immigration and emigration records and identify sources to help continue researching your ancestors in their homeland.
The guide then moves to “Major ethnic groups in America: historical overviews.” This helps focus your search using profiles of forty-two distinct ethnic groups, including American Indians and African Americans, determine when ancestors arrived, where they likely settled and why, and resources particular to each ethnic group.
The book concludes with “Leaving a legacy,” which teaches you how to turn your research into a memorable family history narrative for future generations.
Discovering Your Germanic Ancestors by S. Chris Anderson and Ernest Thode. (2000, 191 pages, paperback, $18.99) Betterway Books, see above.
If your ancestors came from Germany, try Discovering Your Germanic Ancestry. This hands-on guide designed specifically for beginners addresses virtually every aspect of tracing Germanic lineage. It covers basics and provides a history of Germanic countries and their changing boundaries to help researchers find villages of origin and determine events that led ancestors to emigrate. Anderson and Thode have written several genealogical books and combine 60 plus years of research in this guide.
Discovering Your English Ancestors by Paul Milner and Linda Jonas. (2000, 184 pages, paperback, $18.99) Betterway Books, see above.
With technology at your disposal, there’s never been a better time to research your English ancestry. You don’t need to leave the US to do it.
This guide gives a well-rounded perspective to your research and shows which records you’ll need and where to find them. It also describes why records were created and how to reveal more about your ancestors’ lives.
There is step-by-step instruction from focusing your research to overcoming special challenges with a case study to learn from. With this information you’ll be able to create a history that brings your family’s story to life.
Both Paul Milner and Linda Jonas have longtime experience in English genealogy. Their insights and experience will pay off as you uncover your family’s history.
Note: All three of these Betterway Books use the same easy to follow format. Each uses icons in the margins to highlight key points in the text. A table of icons provides definitions to easily spot help you’re looking for. Each section utilizes pictures and graphics similar to ones you’ll encounter in research. Definitions and interpretations ensure you’re able to interpret information to record your family’s story.
