The Family Tree Toolkit by Kenyatta D. Berry
Described as a “Comprehensive Guide to Uncovering Your Ancestry and Researching Genealogy,” this 320-page “toolkit” is stuffed with information, books plus website links that still work.
Review:
You might recognize the author’s name, Kenyatta D. Berry, from the TV series, The Genealogy Roadshow. She is a professional genealogist.
Often a book like this — i.e., one filled with links — is outdated within two years. Frankly, four years after publication, I was expecting the same but even a hint of where to search for information plus the Kindle format price … the purchase was a no-brainer. I was surprised to find that the links I tried in multiple chapters still worked.
The Table of Contents is not shown in the “Look Inside” offered on Amazon but is available on Barnes and Noble here. [Do take a moment to look; the link will open in a new tab.] This book has information one doesn’t expect such as Chinese Immigration and Women and Citizenship. There is a chapter on Ethnic Ancestry (includes African American & Native American), another on European Research (sections on Jewish and German genealogy), Adoption, and a final chapter on DNA. Of course, censuses are covered; keep in mind no information will be included about the 1950 census (released April 2022).
Bless the author and publisher for using footnotes rather than endnotes making it SO much easier to quickly check a link. Another plus of Kindle format is the links are “live” opening up in Safari.
Links are not marked whether the site is free or $. But most people who would already know sites like Ancestry & Fold3 cost money and FamilySearch & archives.gov are free. In the Appendix, a list of Vital Records Office is given for each state with street addresses. Also included are “Additional Research Resources” that are broken out by chapter.
This is an amazing genealogy resource — can’t believe it took me four years to check it out. A great addition to my research tools — and yes, I recommend.
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