Genealogy eBooks

Find genealogy reference guides and books on in our eBook collection on Hoopla. Access Hoopla from the the Library's Downloads page or use the Hoopla app on your mobile device.

Search for "genealogy" to find books on everything from beginning genealogy to how-to guides on more advanced and specific topics. This collection also includes family histories and genealogy memoirs that may inspire you to write your own story.

Genealogy Do-Over

With the start of the new year, it's a good time to think about doing a Genealogy Do-Over. The concept is that you set aside all of your previous research and start over from scratch.

When most of us started compiling our family histories, we did't know or appreciate the importance of citing sources or fully analyzing evidence to prove facts. We gradually learn the process of how to properly conduct our genealogical research.

Perhaps your methods have improved and your current research is impeccable but what about all of your early work?  Instead of just reviewing all of your past research, why not start entirely over?

Blogger Thomas MacEntee created the Genealogy Do-Over in 2014. Last year, he blogged about the process and has written an ebook to help others start over. The Genealogy Do-Over blog also includes different research prompts for each month to help you get through a year of new research. And join the Facebook group for research help and to see how others are starting over.

GENEALOGY BOOK LINKS

At Genealogy Book Links, online family history books are listed alphabetically by surname.  In addition, on the home page are history books listed alphabetically by stste, county and town.

Irish Place Names

To gain insight into the economic and social landscape of 19th-century Ireland you can consult A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, published in 1837, by Samuel Lewis.

Arranged in alphabetical order by place, this dictionary provides an overview of the geography and history of Ireland's villages, parishes and towns, as they existed at the time of publication (1837).

(Thank You to Genealogical Publishing Co.)

Forgotten Patriots

The Glenview Library owns Forgotten Patriots: African American and American Indian Patriots in the Revolutionary War, by Eric G. Grundset. -- 2nd ed. -- National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, c2008.  R929.373 GRU GENEALOGY

This 854 page DAR book is now free online in PDF format with  a 79 page supplement for 2008-2012 covering additions, corrections, and much more bibliographic information.

The 2008 publication identifies over 6,600 names of African American and American Indians who contributed to American Independence. The Supplement includes an additional three years of research revealing additional names of African American and American Indians who contributed to the Revolution.

Chapters discuss the Northern states, the South, miscellaneous naval and military records, foreign allies, and the West Indies.

Appendices include a map of the enslaved population; 1790 Census documenting the color of participants in the American Revolution ; names as clues to finding forgotten patriots ; and the numbers of minority participants in the Revolution.

Galician "Yellow Pages"

The Schematyzm Galicyjski [Galician Schematism] is a potential source of genealogical information, and can be browsed online.

The equivalent of today's Yellow Pages, the Schematyzm Galicyjski was published from 1782 to 1914. Every issue was arranged according to the administrative divisions in effect at that timel and includes an index containing the names of localities and surnames.

The Schematyzm Galicyjski is available on the website of the Malopolskie Genealogical Society, and was digitized from the collections of the Jagiellonian Library in Krakow.

[This information is from the Fall 2010 issue of Rodziny, the journal of the Polish Genealogical Society of America. p.3]

American Memory and Genealogy

You can find genealogy information in The American Memory Collection of the Library of Congress.

To see if information about your ancestors is included anywhere in American Memory, enter your family name in the search box at the top of each American Memory page. Serious genealogical researchers will also want to consult the bibliographies, research guides, and Web links available online from the Library's Local History and Genealogy Reading Room.

To find American Memory collections specifically devoted to city, state, or regional subjects, you can browse the collections in a variety of ways. To find information about a specific place, enter the name in the search box at the top of any American Memory page. Also check the home pages of each of the books and other printed texts, American Memory collections of books and other printed texts, so that wherever possible you can search the full text of their documents.

For example, you will find 48 items about Glenview in the American Memory collection.