Mastering Family, Library and Church Records

A must-have for any budding genealogist—fills a gap on the genealogy bookshelf!

Mastering Family, Church and Library Records is the latest in Quillen’s Essentials of Genealogy series. Many genealogists—beginners as well as experienced researchers—overlook records that are often available at their fingertips. Quillen helps genealogists find, explore and extract the most relevant information from these records. Family records often supply genealogists with far more information than most individuals are aware. Sources such as family bibles, legal papers, letters, and even old photos can provide great data. Church records in particular are routinely overlooked but can provide a wealth of genealogical information, often extending family trees back—and forward—several generations. Libraries are often great depositories of information that go unsearched as genealogists explore more exotic sources of information such as Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com and CyndisList.com. Quillen’s habit of using his own ancestors to illustrate research techniques, as well as his entertaining writing style, have made each of these books popular among genealogists. Family Chronicle magazine says "Quillen approaches his subject with passion and a touch of humor."

W. Daniel Quillen is the author of Cold Spring Press's acclaimed Secrets of Tracing Your Ancestors and his follow-up The Troubleshooter's Guide to Do-It-Yourself Genealogy. In his new Quillen's Essentials of Genealogy series, Quillen has written separate compact primers on mastering different aspects on genealogy.