31 Days of “Out of the Box” Genealogy Tips – Cookbooks!

July 2018 is completely focused on providing you with genealogy tips that are …..well,….”out of the box”.

Welcome to DAY 29 of the 31 Days of “Out of the Box” Genealogy Tips series! Need to start at the beginning of the series or catch up? Start here.

DAY 29- Cookbooks!

Society and church cookbooks have been around for years.  We all have them.  You know the ones…the little paperback cookbook sitting on your bookshelf.  Local women’s societies or women’s church group would donate recipes that would be put into a book.   The cookbooks were often fundraisers for a local charity.

But what can those cookbooks tell you about your ancestors?  Quite a bit actually!

• Place your ancestor in a specific time and place.
• Determine who is in your ancestor’s FAN club (Friends, Associates and Neighbors) and other family members.
• Find clues to a married or maiden name.
• Find clues to your ancestor’s religious beliefs if she is found in a specific church cookbook. This can also lead to other church records.

Who knew?  All that from a cookbook! (No stove required.)

Where To Find Those Cookbooks?

Wondering where to find old cookbooks?

• Your family’s bookshelf
• Google Books
• Local libraries (Don’t forget to check WorldCat.)
• Vertical Files in local repositories

Now It’s Your Turn!

Seek out and explore community and church cookbooks for the area where your ancestors lived.

Check out previous posts in the 31 Days of Out of the Box Genealogy Tips:

[one-half-first]

• Day 1 – Volunteer!
• Day 2 – Genealogy Wikis
• Day 3 – Cemetery Research
• Day 4 – Newspaper Society Pages
• Day 5 – Vertical Files
• Day 6 – Religious Periodicals
• Day 7 – Unplug Your Genealogy
• Day 8 – Cultural Periodicals
• Day 9 – Facebook Groups
• Day 10 – DNA Education
• Day 11 – Funeral Records
• Day 12 – Occupational Records
• Day 13 – School Records
• Day 14 – Civil War Veterans Homes
• Day 15 – War of 1812 Pensions
• Day 16 – Twitter Chats

[/one-half-first]

[one-half]

• Day 17 – Mortality Schedules
• Day 18 – Non-population Schedules
• Day 19 – 1890 Census Fragments
• Day 20 – Tax Records
• Day 21  – Private Collections
• Day 22 – WorldCat
• Day 23 – Merchant Records
• Day 24 – FlickR
• Day 25 – Map Collections
• Day 26 – Road Records
• Day 27 – County Heritage Books
• Day 28 – That 3rd Cousin

[/one-half]

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