31 Days of “Out of the Box” Genealogy Tips – Heritage Books

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

Welcome to DAY 27 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 27- Check Those County Heritage Books

Check the county where your ancestors lived for a county heritage book!  Often created by local historical or genealogical society, county heritage books contain information on the county, its residents and information on individuals and family groups.

Look for information on the county’s original residents and the migration pattern of residents into the county.  This type of information can provide clues to where your ancestors may have lived prior to that county.

Like many who read county heritage books, you will (excitedly) turn to the biography section of the county’s residents.  This section contains write-ups of individuals and/or an entire family line based on information from  family members or descendants.  Typically, these write-ups are not sourced, but provide valuable clues for your genealogy research.

But take this one step further……

At the end of the family/individual write-up find the name of the person who contributed the article and information. (Sometimes this information will be listed in the back of the book.) I have frequently seen contact information provided for these individuals.

Contact this person! They obviously have information on the family and may well have further information that was not included. They may also be able to connect you with other researchers or descendants with important formation on the family’s history.

Where To Find County Heritage Books

Check the local county library or your state’s heritage library for county heritage books.  If you are not local, use WorldCat to find what county heritage books are available and obtain them through inter-library loan.

Now It’s Your Turn!

Seek out a county heritage book and see what clues to you find for your genealogy research.

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

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• 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

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[one-half]

• Day 15 – War of 1812 Pensions
• Day 16 – Twitter Chats
• 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

[/one-half]

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