Ancestry Magazine

Where do you go when you’re really stuck on a family history problem? Experienced and professional genealogists depend upon scholarly genealogical publications for reliable and pertinent information. Novice genealogists often ignore them, perhaps because they can be a bit intimidating.

Genealogical journals provide corrections to published genealogies, transcriptions of documents, contemporaneous reviews of older books still on library shelves (as well as current ones of newly-published titles) vital records lists, and clues generated by experienced genealogists. In fact, these perspectives of the past and present provide a heightened understanding of the evolution of genealogy in general, and your family’s history in particular.

In today’s culture of instant-access data, genealogical journals have taken a back seat to spontaneous lineages and undocumented associations garnered from the family files of others. Ever since the first American assumed an association to a grand duke or king, family historians have relied upon another’s word for their ancestry without question. Accessing the work of distant “cousins” is a vital process in coordinating a comprehensive genealogy. Yet such work too often relies on evidence debunked long ago. While there may now be published corrections to erroneous evidence, inaccurate ancestral ties continue to be shared.

There are several excellent journals available today to educate genealogists in accurately tracing family trees and correcting problems of the past. While it is often easier and more convenient to go to the Internet or use CD databases to search for a name or date to fill in the blank on your chart, it is important to dig a little deeper into reliable resources to substantiate your findings.

The data we discover and use within our own records is only as good as the original compiler of that data. Aside from primary sources you’ve investigated yourself, all else needs to be questioned and verified. Scholarly publications have a distinct advantage over your Aunt Katherine’s notes or that 1879 tome of a g enealogy you’ve relied on–an expert has edited and verified the information for you, and therefore it is eminently more reliable. Genealogical journals, with their respected contributors and editors, underscore the difference between hearsay and accurate information.

Many of these publications can be found on the shelves of larger libraries and historical societies. Some are available online.

Indexes covering several years, or volumes, are usually bound together, making searching easier. Indexes can also be found online or on CD, most notably within PERSI (the PERiodical Source Index), created by the Allen County Public Library, and available either on CD or via a subscription to Ancestry.com. PERSI is the most effective way to review titles to articles pertaining to your topic. It catalogs over one million genealogical articles in nearly five thousand periodicals. After finding a pertinent reference, you may be able to locate the article at a nearby library, or you can request a copy.

The Journals
The names of these journals sound prestigious and a little intimidating: The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, and The American Genealogist, to name a few of the more prominent. They are certainly prestigious, having earned outstanding reputations for reliability and scholarship. They need not be intimidating, however, for within their pages are accurate, well-researched articles and clues to aid you in your research.

If you find footnotes daunting, you may need to remind yourself that a lot of the really good stuff is in the footnotes supporting an article. Genealogical journals often publish case studies that appear to have more text in footnotes than in the body of the article.

Before we review a few examples of what these publications offer, let’s look briefly at som e of the leading journals.

The Register
The New England Historical and Genealogical Register is the oldest scholarly genealogical publication in the country. In 1845, a group of New Englanders formed the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) and within two years they founded the publication that continues today as one of the definitive resources for New England genealogy.

Although dedicated primarily to pre-nineteenth century families and materials, recent issues have also included more contemporary and ethnically diverse topics like the continuing series by Sarah J. Shoenfeld entitled “Applications and Admissions to the Home for Aged Colored Women in Boston, 1860-1887″ (Register, beginning July 2001, Vol. 155). The excerpts make fascinating reading. You will find all or some of the 155 volumes on the shelves of nearly any genealogical library and most larger public libraries in the country. Online access to Register articles is available to NEHGS members on its Web site.

TAG
Donald Lines Jacobus, unquestionably one of New England’s greatest genealogical scholars, founded The American Genealogist (TAG) in 1922. It generated high acclaim from the start and continues as a leader in the field today. While the majority of its content focuses on New England families, there are plenty of exceptions to make this periodical a treasure trove of evidence for genealogists researching any region. The TAG Web site includes the following summary of the periodical’s intent: “Throughout its long career, TAG has emphasized carefully documented compiled genealogy and analyses of difficult genealogical problems, all directed toward providing serious genealogists with examples of how they too might solve such problems.” If there is anything ge nealogists crave, it is learning how to solve their mysteries. TAG and these other journals fill that need.

The NGS Quarterly
Published by the National Genealogical Society since 1912, the National Genealogical Society Quarterly covers a larger geographic territory than either of the two previously discussed journals. In describing itself on the NGS Web site, the NGS Quarterly highlights many valuable how-to tips: “Articles show how to cope with name changes, burned courthouses, illegitimacies, and other stumbling blocks; how to interpret records that do not mean what they seem to say; how to distinguish between individuals of the same name; how to identify origins of immigrant ancestors; how to research a variety of ethnic groups; … and how to compile good genealogies.” Others
Many other renowned periodicals focus on more local areas, contributing further to the genealogical pool of theories and evidence. These include, but are not limited to, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, The Virginia Genealogist, the DSGR Magazine (Detroit Society for Genealogical Research), The Genealogist (published by the Association for the Promotion of Scholarship in Genealogy, or APSG), the New Hampshire Genealogical Record, as well as more specialized publications like the Mayflower Quarterly, which covers the earliest immigrants to the United States. Diversity and Value
Book reviews, detailed corrections, case studies, compiled genealogies, editorials, rants and raves, lists of records, and many other, sometimes unexpected, contributions are in the pages of these journals. Browsing the literature, in addition to looking for topics specific to your research, can reveal items that may pertain to something you’re working on. Noble Roots Denied
Genealogical journals have a great reputation for setting the record straight on erroneous claims made in published genealogies, particularly those asserting royal family origins. As stated earlier, there is typically no editorial oversight involved in publishing compiled genealogies. Late-nineteenth-century and early-twentieth-century genealogies were frequently compiled by individuals wishing to claim a noble birthright. They often created or matched records to suit their wishes. Even today, genealogists latch on to one of these earlier tomes and claim them as truth even when they have been debunked during the interceding decades.

As an example, in the July 1937 edition of TAG (Vol. XIV, No.1), Meredith B. Colket, Jr. takes on the case of Henry Herrick, a yeoman who settled in Essex County, Massachusetts in the 1630s, but was raised to the status of knight’s son in A Genealogical Register of the Name and Family of Herrick, published in 1846. The link to noble roots was further strengthened in the book’s second edition published in 1885. Building yet an even greater claim, the connection was ultimately traced (erroneously) to early Danish kings.

In carefully detailed points, Colket works through the evidence and puts Herrick back into his place. Although it dashed the royal ambitions of Herrick descendants everywhere, reading the arguments makes us better genealogists in the end, helping us to understand the process and importance of working through the evidence properly. Rarely does an issue of TAG or the Register come off the press without some correction, simple or profound, included in its pages.

Dusting off Town Records
Over the past few years I have tried unsuccessfully to substantiate a reference by a noted historian that my great-great-grandfather was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts. Although my search continues, my efforts have not been entirely in vain as I disc overed a sister for the man and came to realize just how much genealogical evidence may still be buried in town and private collections.

In a Register article entitled “Nantucket Supplementary Death Records” (April 1946, Vol. 100), Mrs. Seth Ames Lewis copied 1821—1834 death records “… from an old book kept by Isaac Coffin of Nantucket,” which “disclose[s] new names and additional information not found in the printed Vital Records of Nantucket.” It is a welcome addition for anyone who relied solely on published records for source material.

Maine Families in 1790 is an essential publication for researchers with roots in that state. The project resulted from a chance discovery of a neglected census of Hancocktown, Maine (now Clinton), in a record book found in an old coal bin in the town offices. After publishing those records in a two-part Register article (”Families in Clinton, Maine, 1799,” 1957), author Ruth Gray, with the help of others interested in the project, continued to compile records from other Maine towns that now comprise six published volumes in the Maine Families in 1790 series.

Transcriptions
Manuscripts, diaries, and unpublished notes are some of the greatest resources genealogists use to add life to family histories. Genealogical journals offer a fabulous arena in which to find such transcriptions as well as a place to contribute work. Diaries, wills, and letters are published regularly in these journals and provide intimate, personal perspectives that embellish otherwise dry data.

Transcriptions of indexes, manifests, and unusual lists of names are also frequently found within the pages of scholarly periodicals. In “Genealogical Treasure in an Account Book: The Identification of Francisco Xavier de Lomba,” published in the March 1999 edition of the NGS Quarterly (Vol. 87, No. 1), Claire Mire Bettag, CGRS, documents an overlooked genealogical source (an account book) and how such documentation led her to more accurately reconstruct a family’s history. Her comments teach readers to look beyond the norm, educate themselves by reading what the experts are writing, and check any and all records. By doing so, you’ll take your research to places you’ve always wanted it to go.

The variety of topics found within genealogical journals illustrates the obscurity as well as the rich diversity of resources available to genealogists.

For every point and record elaborated upon here, you will find thousands of others in the genealogical literature. Grab an index, leaf through a genealogical journal, open your mind, and be prepared to be rewarded in fascinating, unpredictable ways.

Laura Prescott Duffy is the director of membership for the New England Historic Genealogical Society.