*** Jacobus’ TAG article still good advice.
*** Swedish/Norwegian/Danish meatballs
*** DNA Quicksheets
Back in 1954, The American Genealogist (TAG) published an article by Donald Lines Jacobus, M.A., F.A.S.G. titled Tricks In Using Indexed Genealogy Books. He began his article with a touch of humor:
“Intelligent and experienced readers will, I fear, feel insulted to be told things they long have known. Those who are sure they know all the tricks that can be employed in handling the indexes in family histories are therefore requested to skip this page with a sniff of disdain.”
From the article I outlined his points for you:
** Many old family histories are just not indexed but somewhere along the line some group may have compiled an index.
** Many older family histories have a series of indexes and unless you pay attention and peek at only one, you won’t find much.
** Some family histories have indexes at the front and some in the middle…. “one 7-volume set has an index plump (sic) in the middle of the 7th volume!”
**Some family histories have a total, every-name index but some only the main surnames and not the married-in surnames.
** Some index these married-in surnames only by surname, not first name.
**Some list surnames with a string of pages numbers, rather than breaking the listing down by first name.
** Some names are indexed under spellings that you would never guess.
** Some index all spellings: Wooster/Worchester; Gaylord/Gaillard.
Jacobus ended his article with this: “Those who use the indexes in genealogical books must bear all the above factors in mind….. many (of these indexes) have been compiled by inexperienced people, some by careless people, and some by doctrinaires who followed their own eccentric—even bizarre–notions. The best and most experienced indexers are occasionally guilty of some oversight or of a lapse in judgement. The moral is for the searcher not to give up too easily……”
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