Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Review - Genealogy at a Glance: French Genealogy Research

The Genealogical Publishing Company in Baltimore has published another in its series of "Genealogy at a Glance" laminated research guides - this time for French Genealogy Research by Claire Bettag, CG, CGL. 




This "Genealogy at a Glance" booklet has four laminated pages on one 11" x 17" paper (folded). They are designed to give the user the basic elements of genealogy research in the allotted space. They provide an overview of the facts a researcher needs to know in order to begin and proceed successfully with research in the subject.

The French Genealogy Research folder has these subjects:

* Contents list
* Quick Facts  
* Immigration/Emigration  -- Major Periods of French Immigration (to present-day United States), Who Were the Immigrants? Emigration/Immigration Records, 
*  Unlocking French Family History - Pinpointing the Town of Origin, Family Names (noms de families), Huguenots
*  Political/Archival Organization
*  Major Record Sources - Parish Registers, 16th century to 1792;  Civil Registration, 1792 to present; Notarial Records, 16th century to present; Censuses
*  Other Records -- Land Records, Military Records
*  Repositories -- Municipal/Communal Archives; Departmental Archives; Archives of Paris; National Archives; National Library of France; family History Library, Salt Lake City
*  Online Resources 

This booklet is designed primarily for the person who is not an expert, or has no experience, in French genealogy research.  It provides a summary of the fundamentals of French research in both the USA and France.  Reference books, online databases and websites for each topic are cited in the text.  A researcher wanting additional expertise should rely on quality published books with in-depth knowledge about the resources available.  

For someone like me that teaches and talks about genealogy a bit, it is invaluable because I can pull it out and provide some guidance to my student or colleague interested in the subject.

The beauty of these "Genealogy at a Glance" folders is that they are very light and portable in a briefcase or laptop case. They are fixtures in my research case.

This four-page laminated booklet costs $8.95,  plus postage and handling (4th Class Mail $5.50; FedEx Ground Service in the USA, $7.50). You can order it through the Genealogical Store, or use the link for the French Genealogy Research booklet and click on the "Add to Cart" link.

I reviewed several similar works in Book Review: Genealogy at a Glance: "How-To" Series (French-Canadian, Scottish and Irish), Book Review: "Genealogy at a Glance: German Genealogy Research," and Review: "Genealogy at a Glance: English Genealogy Research."

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/02/review-genealogy-at-glance-french.html


Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2012.

Disclosure: Genealogical.com contacted me recently and asked me to provide a review of this booklet. They mailed me a review copy for my personal use as remuneration for this review.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

May I suggest the French Genealogy Blog site as well? Anne Morddel has written a great book: French Geanealogy From Afar. Her links to various departmental archives in France have been a great help to my ancestor research.