Family Tree Magazine’s new ‘Beginner’s Guide’ full of tips

Family Tree Magazine (familytreemagazine.com) recently published “Beginner’s Guide to Genealogy: How to Get Started with your Family Research.” This 104page soft cover work should help anyone get started in doing genealogy research, as well as help those teaching a class about the same.

Like the magazine, it is beautifully illustrated and is not just text. Each chapter is broken up with colorful illustrations, examples of documents, and checklists. The authors begin with 10 steps to start working on your tree, then a records checklist to help you know what kinds of things to look for and where.

A chapter focuses on genealogy “falsehoods” to beware of, like names changed at Ellis Island.

Twenty genealogy tips cover genealogy strategy and mark the magazine’s 20th anniversary.

A special chapter focuses on the 25 best websites for beginners. This includes best DNA sites, newspaper sites, ethnic and regional sources.

Ancestry.com’s hints system is another chapter’s focus, to help you understand how to use them. Its annual list of the 101 Best Genealogy Websites fills another chapter, making those great sources easily findable.

Other chapters are devoted to census records research; immigration records with examples; birth, marriage and death records, again with pictures of documents.

The final chapters focus on worksheets to help you record what you find; how to keep organized, including citations; and finally how to deal with and name your digital files. This great new work is available from familytreemagazine.com for $39.97 (print edition) plus shipping. This could be a refresher book for even the most seasoned genealogist.

African American History Committee

The Genealogical and Local Historical Room of Macon’s Washington Memorial Library hosts a monthly Middle Georgia Regional Library African American History Committee. To receive email newsletters, contact gandhmacon@ gmail.com. It could give you ideas for your community to start. Goals are to collect, preserve and expand African American history and genealogy knowledge.

Creating timelines can be useful tool

Creating a timeline of your ancestors’ lifetime helps you account for when they should appear in various records after age 21.