Genealogy Handbook: The Complete
Guide to Tracing Your Family Tree by
Ellen Galford
Excellent Launching Point For Your Genealogical Research
The most extensive and Internet-savvy resource of its kind. This book
delivers critical tools and proven techniques for research with results.
Editorial consultant Ancestry.com, the worlds leading resource for family
history online, teaches how to navigate the Internet to find the information
you need.
Personal Review: Genealogy Handbook: The Complete Guide to
Tracing Your Family Tree by Ellen Galford
I'm just getting started with my Genealogical research, and after feeling a
bit overwhelmed with the possibilities, I bought a couple of books to help
me develop a "roadmap."

Given the conciseness of this text and the beautiful graphic design and
layout, I was expecting this to be shorter on substance than my other
(much lengthier) book, "How to Do Everything with Your Genealogy."
However, the old family photographs and pictures of census records and
immigration documents are inspiring, while the mini-case studies help put
the descriptive text in context. The eight concise chapters seem to cover
the essential range of topics, including interviewing and collection
techniques, archiving, creating family trees, using the internet as a tool,
and planning a genealogy research trip. Family history research is not
rocket science, and while much of what is described is common sense, this
book focuses on pointing out key internet and library resources and
recommending methods for interviewing as well as making use of the
experience of naturally helpful librarians and archivists.
I was particularly impressed by the clarity and relevance of the chapter on
internet searches, which assumes no previous background and probably
well accommodates even the largely senior demographic of family
historians. Relevant sub-topics include a conceptual overview of how
email works, basic netiquette, and pointers to helpful online resources.
Appropriately, computer technology is a dominant theme throughout the
book, and the author makes particular note that with modern technology,
genealogical research is a whole lot less tedious than it used to be. One
example of a good idea I hadn't thought of, is bringing a digital camera on
research trips to take snapshots of archival documents.
I'm sure I'll come back to this book as a "reference" during various stages
of my search, but that didn't stop me from reading this from cover to cover.
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