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Family Histories
Local and Family Histories Collection
Make your family story come alive with details from this rich collection of family histories, local histories, and primary sources. Easily search by name, location, or publication to uncover family facts in documents from all 50 states, Canada and the British Isles.
The most extensive collection of family histories available, these 7.5 million fully searchable pages also include rare genealogical journals, local histories, atlases, and primary sources. The 16,000 total titles encompass towns and families from all 50 states, Canada, and the British Isles from 1700 through the present. |
Self-Published Family Histories
Over 6,000 genealogies-in-print available as quality reprints
The original copies of these genealogies were usually printed in small editions - sometimes, only two hundred copies or less - and they are now very rare and extremely difficult for you to obtain for research, or to pass on to your children and grandchildren as precious family heirlooms.
Type in the surname you are looking for and we will show you a list of matching genealogies in our collection.
These books are carefully reproduced with top-of-the-line digital equipment, and are photographic facsimiles that will outlast the fragile original books: the acid-free paper used meets Library of Congress standards for strength and permanence, and that means no more torn, brittle pages.
Additional Information
Using Published Family Histories
by Terry and Jim Willard
When it comes to getting back to basics, published family histories are among the most basic for family history research. Unfortunately, published family histories represent the proverbial good news/bad news dilemma. The good news is that a well-done family history is loaded with excellent clues that can help you piece together your own family’s history. The bad news is that published family histories can be difficult to locate and even difficult to use once you locate them.
Finding Family in the Pages of Local Histories
byCurt B. Witcher
While they are typically secondary sources, many times these later compilations can provide us with useful background information and assist us in uncovering even richer veins of primary source records. They can truly be our research guides, indicating where to look for genealogical data and identifying major works whose significance may not be well known outside a very small geographic area. They are also of great assistance in developing a context into which one can place potential ancestors-both a geographic context and a historical context.
Gems in Local Histories
by Juliana Smith
Local histories contain valuable gems of information for family history researchers, regardless of whether the family lived in the city or in a rural area. But these resources are often overlooked. And even if they aren't entirely ignored, we may find ourselves just checking the index for surnames of interest.
See also: GenDirectory: Surname Histories