Quill Spirit Library

Genealogy books and cd's - New titles

Getting Started in Genealogy ONLINE is so basic that it brings the world of Internet genealogy into instant focus. Designed as a beginner's guide, its 64 pages pack more clout than any 64 pages ever written on the subject of online genealogy. If you ever wanted to trace your family tree online, this book will help you do it.

Ohio Land and Tax Records, 1787-1840 [CD]

With information on Ohio"s earliest settlers, this magnificent CD contains the following five publications, all linked by a single electronic name index and a unique search engine. Your Ohio research starts here! *Early Ohio Settlers: Purchasers of Land in Southwestern Ohio, 1800-1840, by Ellen T. Berry and David A. Berry; *Early Ohio Settlers: Purchasers of Land in East and East Central Ohio, 1800-1840, by Ellen T. Berry and David A. Berry; *Early Ohio Settlers: Purchasers of Land in Southeastern Ohio, 1800-1840, by Ellen T. Berry and David A. Berry; *Early Ohio Tax Records, by Esther Weygant Powell; and *First Ownership of Ohio Lands, by Albion M. Dyer.

Massachusetts Genealogical Records [CD]

The research value of this CD, with its 570,000 entries, is evident in its sweeping coverage. The majority of the books featured on this CD deal with vital records, passenger lists, censuses, and military records of a slightly later era. Including the first two censuses of Massachusetts for 1790 and 1800, information found in this CD generally consists of name, age, and occupation, date and place of birth, marriage, and death, date of arrival, place of residence, family relationships, details of military service, and date and place of burial. Connections from one book to another make this CD a formidable research tool.

Early Georgia Settlers [CD]

This Family Archive CD is composed of six books previously published by the Genealogical Publishing Company which identify the earliest settlers of Georgia. Based on census records, immigration records, and family histories, this CD is especially important because it covers a period of time prior to the keeping of official vital records, and it incorporates many of the earliest records pertaining to Georgia as both colony and state. Among the important record sources included here are the earliest surviving censuses for the state of Georgia--those of 1790 (actually reconstructed from tax lists, voters" lists, etc.), 1820, and 1830. Also included is a comprehensive list of the first settlers of Georgia.

Maryland Settlers and Soldiers [CD]

Consisting of the most authoritative books ever published on Maryland in the colonial wars, the Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812, as well as books containing newspaper abstracts, church records, records of marriages and deaths, tombstone inscriptions, and census records, this Family Archive CD contains a true cross-section of the records of some 325,000 early Maryland settlers and soldiers, all accessed through a single electronic index.

Roll of Honor: Civil War Union Soldiers [CD]

This CD contains images of the pages of all 27 volumes of the Roll of Honor as well as The Unpublished Roll of Honor. These books reference the names of over 200,000 Union soldiers who were buried in national cemeteries, soldiers" lots, and garrison cemeteries. Originally compiled by the U.S. Quartermaster"s Department, it was published volume by volume as battlefield sites were surveyed, graves exhumed, and bodies identified and reburied. Information given includes the soldier"s name, rank, regiment, company, date of death, and place of burial. For convenience, a name index to all 27 volumes and The Unpublished Roll of Honor is included on the CD.

Ancestral Trails. The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History
Second Edition

This is the second edition of the book that has been called the Bible of British genealogy. Originally published in 1997 in association with the Society of Genealogists (London), and now revised and updated to reflect the latest developments in the field, Ancestral Trails enables the researcher to form a coherent picture of past generations by describing virtually every class of record in every repository and library in Britain. The early chapters help beginners take their first steps by dealing with such matters as obtaining information from living relatives, drawing family trees, and starting research in the records of birth, marriage, and death, or in census records. Later chapters guide researchers to the records that are more difficult to find and use, such as wills, parish records, civil and ecclesiastical court records, poll books, and property records. So the book is ideal for the beginner and the experienced researcher alike, and will enable those who are persistent enough to trace their ancestry back to the Middle Ages.

Hispanic Confederates. Third Edition

Although it is not generally acknowledged, a number of soldiers of Hispanic ancestry fought on behalf of the Confederacy during the American Civil War. As John O'Donnell-Rosales explains in the Introduction to the new Third Edition of his ground-breaking list of Hispanic Confederate soldiers, many of these individuals--including businessmen and sailors living in cities like New Orleans, St. Louis, Natchez, Biloxi, and Mobile--would have to choose between their cultural aversion to American slavery and the natural desire to protect their way of life in the South. After consulting a number of primary and secondary sources, including numerous rosters of Confederate soldiers, the author has compiled the only comprehensive roster of Hispanic Confederate soldiers in print. The number of soldiers listed in this volume has grown to 6,175 men, a number nearly twice as large as identified in the first edition.

Indian Wills, 1911-1921. Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs: Book Two

This is the second book compiled by Jeff Bowen in a series of Native American sources based on records submitted by Native Americans to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The author, who was responsible for having the National Archives microfilm the collection, has here transcribed an additional 180 manuscript pages consisting of 101 verbatim wills for this volume. As a rule, the documents identify the names of the testator, residence, heirs, a description of any real estate transferred in the will, names of executors and witnesses, and other particulars commonly found in probate records.

The Record Interpreter

A Collection of Abbreviations, Latin Words and Names Used in English Historical Manuscripts and Records. Second EditionThe author designed this book to answer the questions that can plague researchers when they run across Latin and French abbreviations in English historical manuscripts. Armed with this easy-to-follow guidebook, researchers will be able to understand most texts with little more than an ordinary dictionary. "This work is of vital importance in libraries where there is any call for the reading of records in Latin."--Library Journal, January 16, 1966

Nantucket Genealogies
Excerpted from The History of Nantucket County, Island, and Town, Including Genealogies of First Settlers

The volume begins with biographical sketches of the First Purchasers, in which the author explains to what extent each man figured in Nantucket's British beginnings and gives an account of that pioneer's immediate family and the circumstances of his death. The First Purchasers included: Thomas Macy, Benjamin Coffin, Tristram Coffin, Edward Starbuck, Richard Swain, William Bunker, John Swain, Thomas Barnard, Robert Barnard, Christopher Hussey, Thomas Mayhew, Peter Coffin, Stephen Greenleaf, William Pile, Robert Pike, Tristram Coffin, Jr., James Coffin, Thomas Coleman, Nathaniel Starbuck, Thomas Look, and John Smith. Many of these founders were well acquainted with one another and, in a number of instances, were connected through intermarriage as well. These relationships are clearly established by Mr. Starbuck's genealogies, which trace the founders from their origins in England through four or five generations to the eve of the American Revolution and beyond.

Records of the Court of New Castle on Delaware, 1676-1699 - Two Volumes

These two volumes contain extracts of many of the oldest original records of New Castle County, as found in the court minutes of the Government of The Three Lower Counties on Delaware. Volume I, which was originally published in Volumes 68 and 69 of the Collections of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania and reprinted by the Colonial Society of Pennsylvania in a very limited edition in 1904, spans the period 1676-1681. The coverage of this volume would appear to be comprehensive for the extant records, inasmuch as it includes abstracts of criminal and civil suits, lists of tithables, records of indenture, the contents of estates, wills and deeds, and more. The smaller second volume, which was published by the Society in 1934, picks up in 1681 and extends to 1699--notwithstanding several gaps in the surviving records. The coverage of Volume II, while less comprehensive, has more of a genealogical focus because it is limited to items "respecting land titles and probate proceedings," the vast number of which demonstrate the existence of blood relationships among the parties.

Virginia Claims to Land in Western Pennsylvania Published with an Account of the Donation Lands of Pennsylvania

Excerpted from Pennsylvania Archives 3rd Series Volume IIIIn 1754, the colonies of Virginia and Pennsylvania entered into a dispute over the ownership of what is today the southwest corner of Pennsylvania. At the time, Virginia's claim, which was encompassed within the boundaries of Augusta County, embraced all of Pennsylvania west of Laurel Hill and included the present-day counties of Westmoreland, Fayette, Greene, Washington, and parts of Allegheny and Beaver. The dispute raged over the course of the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War and was eventually settled in 1784. The first of the two excerpts from the Pennsylvania Archives reprinted here, Virginia Claims to Land in Western Pennsylvania, is a complete list of Virginia land entries in the aforementioned Pennsylvania counties between 1779 and 1780. For each of the 1,300 entries we are given the date of the entry, the name(s) of the parties to the transaction, and occasional references to subsequent transfers of grants, the amount of acreage, and a landmark indicating where the land was situated. The second excerpt, An Account of the Donation Lands of Pennsylvania, concerns the March 1780 statute enacted by the state legislature granting land in western Pennsylvania to the soldiers of the Pennsylvania Line who served in the Continental Army. The 3,000 members of the Pennsylvania Line entitled to a donation are identified by name, rank, regiment, acreage awarded, and, sometimes, whether the individual claimed the land, was killed in action, relinquished his right to the land, etc. The list of eligible soldiers is preceded by an informative history of the donation lands.

The History of Montgomery County, Maryland

This is an historical, biographical, and genealogical work on Montgomery County, Maryland, with chapters on the founding and early settlement of the county and biographical sketches of prominent men. It is brimming with genealogical information and is reprinted here with an added index of names.

Across the Years in Prince George's County [Maryland]

Part One of this landmark work is a personal history of Prince George's County, based on reminiscences. The genealogical section designated Part Two deals with the following county families, many of them allied in one generation or another: Addison, Beall, Berry, Bowling, Brooke, Calvert, Clagett, Clark, Clarkson, Clements, Contee, Darnall, Digges, Dulany, Dyer, Fenwick, Graham, Gwynn, Hall, Hill, Hilleary, Keene, Lee, Lowe, Magruder, Marbury, Murdock, Plummer, Rozer, Sewall, Sprigg, Waring, and Young.

Frederick County, Virginia, Marriages 1771-1825

The 4,000 marriage records compiled in this volume (mostly bonds and ministers' returns) should be of particular interest to researchers whose forebears crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The Soldiery of West Virginia
in the French and Indian War; Lord Dunmore's War; the Revolution; the Later Indian Wars; the Whiskey Insurrection; the Second War with England; the War with Mexico. And Addenda Relating to West Virginians in the Civil War

This is the most comprehensive compilation of West Virginia soldiers in the Revolution and other wars, containing rosters and, in many cases, service records of thousands of soldiers, with narratives on the various wars. The rosters and rolls, here collected for the first time, are drawn from both published and unpublished sources, the original records being in many cases in the Department of Archives and History of the State of West Virginia.

Missouri Marriages Before 1840

This amazing compilation contains the records of 16,000 marriages from fifty-one Missouri counties formed before 1840. The majority of the marriage records in this work were copied from the original marriage books on file in various county courthouses. Others were copied from previously published compilations; some were copied from both sources. All Missouri counties with marriage records prior to 1840 are covered except St. Louis County and City, which have been adequately covered elsewhere. The marriages listed here are arranged in alphabetical sequence by the surname of the groom. A bride's index at the back of the book contains the names of all 16,000 women mentioned in the marriage records.

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Marriages of Chatham County, North Carolina, 1772-1868

This work contains abstracts of all extant marriage bonds issued in Chatham County, 1772-1868, when marriage bonds--as required for marriages--were discontinued.

Earliest Tennessee Land Records and Earliest Tennessee Land History
Irene M. Griffey

Once in a generation, someone compiles a genealogy reference work that instantly becomes a standard in its field because it aggregates a vital collection of records in one place, explains how those records originally came to be, and, in the process, promises to save its users hours of toil. Earliest Tennessee Land Records and Earliest Tennessee Land History, by Irene Griffey, is such a book.

The State of Tennessee was established, essentially, from land ceded to the federal government by North Carolina. Clouding the various land cession laws that transferred the title of land from North Carolina to the United States south of the River Ohio (a territory) and then to Tennessee was the requirement, however vaguely defined, that North Carolina Revolutionary soldiers' promise of land for military service be honored. Among other things, this requirement resulted in the inclusion of hundreds of footnotes to the Tennessee land laws that spelled out the land transfer process. In the first portion of this book, Mrs. Griffey has done an extraordinary job of sifting through and organizing the legal history of the early Tennessee land laws so that genealogists may be able to grasp their substance. Among other things, researchers can now understand when and why the various county land offices were established, the six-step process for obtaining a land grant, the differences between military and other types of land grants, and, of course, how to use early Tennessee land records.

The bulk of this remarkable volume, however, consists of abstracts of some 16,000 of the earliest Tennessee land records in existence, arranged in a tabular format. For each record we are given the name of the claimant, the file number, the name of the assignee (if any), the county, number of acres, grant number, date, entry number, entry date, land book and page number, and a description of the stream nearest to the grant. A separate listing of assignees, with the corresponding claimant and file numbers follows in a separate table. The volume concludes with a lengthy appendix consisting of maps and a detailed chronology of Tennessee's land statutes. All of which makes Mrs. Griffey's new book the most important contribution to Tennessee genealogy in recent memory.