Well, I will now blame the lockdown of 2020 and now into 2021 for all the new genealogy books I’m purchasing.
I’ve always loved going to the library and spending a day sifting through books and looking for tidbits on my ancestors and I miss the thrill of scanning an index and finding a surname on one of my lines. I also truly miss the smell of the books and the feel of the paper (no I don’t have a problem, I can give up books at anytime. I say this as I’m waiting for the postal carrier to bring me my newest purchases).
Since I can’t go to the library I’m now purchasing map books, heritage books (yes I know some of them aren’t always truthful), local history books, and a few individual family history books. Why? Well, not everything is scanned and nicely indexed online so I’m searching for books and purchasing them. This may not bode well for my wallet but dang it’s so nice to turn off the computer and research using books again.
One of my favorite purchases is the Family Maps books by Gregory A Boyd, J.D. The author has used the United States Land records and mapped out the information for us! I’ve looked at old land records and didn’t quite understand how to use the info and find my ancestors on a map, Mr. Boyd has done the leg work for us.
In the book Family Maps of Wilcox County, Alabama Deluxe Edition I can now see that a handful of my ancestors all had their farms in the same area of the county and a few others were just a few miles away in the next district. I knew they lived in Wilcox County but I didn’t know where exactly. Now I do.
I’ve also purchased the Family Maps of Calhoun County, Alabama Deluxe Edition and will soon be seeing where that group of ancestors lived.
Here is the link to Arphax Publishing and you can see if they have maps for the areas you are researching.
Now, I just need the books for a few more Alabama counties and I’ll be set – for now anyway because there are always more books.
Has the lockdown changed how you view genealogy research resources?