Published Genealogical Information

Family Histories

In some cases you may save a lot of time by finding out if someone has already researched one of your family lines and published their results. For instance, if you are lucky enough to be related to one of the following families, there's aleady a published history. Your task is simplified to one of tracing your own line back to a point that connects with that of the publication.

Wright Family Census Records, Franklin County, Virginia, 1810-1900 ­ Robert N. Grant. The author has amassed a bounty of information about Wrights in southern Virginia. In addition to the census data, he has included church and circuit court records in this book. This is just one of several books Mr. Grant has done on the Wright family in Virginia.

While it is tempting to latch onto a family tree that has already been completed, be careful of fraudulent genealogy, as covered in this excellent article. If you’re lucky, an enthusiastic genealogist may have already collected information on your family name as it is found throughout the federal censuses.

Archival & Genealogical Data on CD-ROM

There is a wide selection available from Heritage Books as well as from Genealogy.com

Having a ready access to your own data gives you the freedom to explore when and where you wish. In particular indexed marriage records can supply hard-to-find information on ancestors who had multiple spouses.

Also, remember to keep track of your sources. If you run into conflicting information you'll want to know where each fact came from so you can weigh the relative value and decide which is the most likely to be the truth. The book Evidence: Citation & Analysis for the Family History by Elizabeth Shown Mills is a great manual on the importance of citation of sources.