A humorous approach to genealogical research discusses successful research methods and various sources of information, including the National Archives, county courthouses, libraries, and genealogical societies

Funny Genealogist I Collect Dead Relatives/h3>

Here she comes again our aging Joan of Arc, mercilessly stripping away the veneer covering the serdid world of genealogy; teeth bared, mop & blender at the ready-motherhood & America on the line-shets out to do battle with the dragons of genealogy. Disguised as an ordinary person, she penetrates the inner sanctum of American genealogy, smoking out baloney & quackery in the lecture halls, exposing hidden meanings & dark purposes at wingdings in such innocent-seeming places as Ohio & California, confronting Armageddon itself in the streets of San Francisco, & generally raising doubts about the sanity of the universe. With a swipe at foreigners, computer freaks, reluctant letter-writers, & certain best-forgotten ancestors, our good lady is uncompromising in her single-minded devotion to flushing out flummery & humbug. But does she succeed? Does good triumph over evil in the garden of genealogy? Or all the dark forces of earnest endeavor gain the upper hand?

“WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE DO YOU COME FROM? ” As a historian, Buzzy Jackson thought she knew the answers to these simple questions—that is, until she took a look at her scrawny family tree. With a name like Jackson (the twentieth most common American surname), she knew she must have more relatives and more family history out there, somewhere. Her first visit to the Boulder Genealogy Society brought her more questions than answers . . . but it also gave her a tantalizing peek into the fascinating (and enormous) community of family-tree huggers and after-hours Alex Haleys. In Shaking the Family Tree, Jackson dives headfirst into her family gene pool: flying cross-country to locate an ancient family graveyard, embarking on a weeklong genealogy Caribbean cruise, and even submitting her DNA for testing to try to find her Jacksons. And in the process of researching her own family lore (Who was Bullwhip Jackson?) she meets legions of other genealogy buffs who are as interesting as they are driven—from the boy who saved his allowance so he could order his great-grandfather’s death certificate to the woman who spends her free time documenting the cemeteries of Colorado ghost towns. Through Jackson’s research she connects with distant relatives, traces her roots back more than 250 years and in the process comes to discover—genetically, historically, and emotionally—the true meaning of “family” for herself.

When it's too hard to spell your occupation or to explain your job as a genealogist or geneologist, just tell them you hunt dead people . It's a funny gift idea for professional genealogists or anyone capable of tracing clan lineage through research of birth, marriage and death records . 120 College Ruled White Pages 6"x9" Glossy Cover Great for writing projects, as a personal diary or a composition book Professional Quality Smooth paper for writing li>A perfect gift for adults, children, teens & tweens

Genealogy how-to research tips, ideas, and suggestions with a concentration on research in the United States.

A.J. Jacobs has received some strange emails over the years, but this note was perhaps the strangest: “You don’t know me, but I’m your eighth cousin. And we have over 80,000 relatives of yours in our database.” And so begins A.J. Jacobs’s quest to build the biggest family tree in history. In an era of us-versus-them thinking, this book is a hilarious, heartfelt and profound exploration of what binds us all – where family begins, how far it goes, and the science that is revolutionizing the way we think about ethnicity, history and the human species. This book is about A.J. Jacobs’s family. But it’s also about your family. Because it is the same family.