The Handybook for Genealogists : United States of America (10th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: RavenRing
Review: A shrink-wrapped, perfectly new book as advertised. Delivered with astounding promptness! This was great service! Bett

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat flawed but still a basic reference tool
Review: For several decades, one of the first books a new (or newly serious) genealogist was likely to purchase has been _Everton's Handybook._ It first appeared in 1947 with only a couple hundred pages of contact information, but it was an almost immediate success and the first nine editions have sold more than 1,000,000 copies. My own copy of the 6th edition (published in 1971), filled with paperclips and bookmarks, sat next to my old manual typewriter, where I wrote letters of inquiry to county clerks and probate offices all over the country. In its essentials, this latest edition hasn't changed from its predecessors - but there's certainly a whole lot more of it!

The book's organization continues what we've been used to. Each state's chapter (the District of Columbia is here, too) begins with a brief overview of its history and governmental organization, followed by a lengthy list of societies, libraries, and other records repositories, and then a newly updated and expanded topically organized subject bibliography. Then comes the list of counties, each with date of formation and parent county, the full official address, phone number, and web site address (new to this edition), and details on which record groups are available for what time-spans. A simplified color map clearly shows county boundaries, rivers, and a few major cities. Border counties of adjacent states are also usefully shown, but not highways, railroads, or county seats, which I could wish had been included. A blank page for notes at the end of each chapter may encourage the user to record updates of contact information.

Following the U.S. section are similar chapters for nineteen selected foreign countries, all European or English-speaking (Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), plus Mexico. Again, while the selected countries probably are those for which most American genealogists will want to have contact information, there is actually a growing interest in our pluralistic society regarding Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian, and Middle Eastern family research, and well-written chapters on the resources of those comparatively unfamiliar ancestral lands would have been most welcome.

Checking under state and local societies and libraries whose addresses and phone numbers I know from my own research (including a couple that had recently changed), I found several instances of sloppy fact-checking and copyediting, including duplicated listings under "Louisiana Genealogical and Historical Society" and "Louisiana Genealogical & Historical Society," one of which had an incorrect ZIP code and an outdated phone number. And why are there three different listings for the Louisiana Historical Association, all with slightly different addresses -- and which one is correct?

Despite its recognized shortcomings (the editing problems have been noted in my reviews of previous editions), the _Handybook_ (which used to be two words, _Handy Book_) will continue to be a basic reference tool. If you have a copy of the 9th edition, you likely will be slow to purchase a copy of this monster, given its unavoidably high price, but I hope everyone will at least encourage their local libraries to acquire it!

Rating:
Summary: How did I get along for so long without it?
Review: I love this book; it is a wealth of information that is not easily found anywhere else! Unfortunately, I am in the middle of a move and my copy is packed away in storage. If you spend long hours pouring over family history details, buy this book.

Rating:
Summary: Superb Reference Book for Finding Information Sources
Review: This is an absolutely wonderful sourcebook for working with various governent records (Federal, state, and county) for geneology. It tells you very precisely what type of records are available over what time for individual jusrisdictions. It is really quite amazing, for example, to find out the specific years that land title information is available for a specific county. The book is a treasure trove, in that it gives you all of the contact information you need to get in touch with various information sources.

Just an amazing book! This is a great book to have.

Rating:
Summary: Superb Reference Book for Finding Information Sources
Review: This is an absolutely wonderful sourcebook for working with various governent records (Federal, state, and county) for geneology. It tells you very precisely what type of records are available over what time for individual jusrisdictions. It is really quite amazing, for example, to find out the specific years that land title information is available for a specific county. The book is a treasure trove, in that it gives you all of the contact information you need to get in touch with various information sources.

Just an amazing book! This is a great book to have.

Rating:
Summary: At least 20 times a week I refer to the HANDYBOOK!
Review: Walter M. Everton was the first compiler of the original edition HANDYBOOK in 1945. This reference book lists each state and all counties that ever existed there with details including:

Name, map index reference number, date created, population per latest census, dates US Census Reports available, parent county or territory from which organized, county seat including zip code (for requesting copies of documents),

As an example, I learned that Carroll County, MD, created in 1837 from Baltimore and Frederick Counties. It's county seat is Westminister, zip code 21157. The Clerk of the Circuit Court has the marriage records from 1837-1900 not indexed, from 1900 indexed, divorce, civil court and land records from 1837.

Reading about the state of Maryland as a whole, I learned that the Division of Vital Records and Statistics, Department of Health located at 201 West Preston Street, Baltimore, MD 21201 issues copies of birth, marriage and death records. Birth records begin 1898. Marriage records begin 1 June 1951. Wills are in the register of wills for each county.

There are also listings of genealogical archives, libraries, societies and publications, along with dates for each available census index.

The line drawings of each state with current counties might be useful to illustrate a family's location in the area for your family history notebooks.

From their advertising circular: "Information that researchers need for America includes records available in each county, current information includes: address and telephone numbers for country clerks, 56 color maps of each state and trails! 124 emigration trail descriptions. Illustrates rivers and lakes.

I wouldn't steer you wrong of this one! The first genealogy research book I every bought was an earlier edition! Now, I consider it money well spent. Even though I am gifted with numerous genealogy books to review, I'd still pay for a copy of this excellent reference work!

Myrt