The Family Tree
By Terence L. Day
Terence L. Day, genealogist and journalist, is on the Washington State University faculty. He welcomes e-mail at genealogy@moscow.com, or regular mail in care of the Tri-City Herald City newsroom, P.O. Box 2608, Tri-Cities, WA 99302-2608.
Book unlocks mysteries of Web
This story was published May 28, 2000
The World Wide Web is at once an incomparable boon to genealogical research and the biggest imaginable quagmire.
A person could get so lost, or absorbed, in Internet genealogy resources that they wouldn't get any genealogy done.
I kid you not.
This introduction isn't intended as a warning to scare you away from cyberspace. Indeed, I wish to invite you aboard if you haven't yet ventured onto the information superhighway.
If you're already braved the Internet but lost your way, help is available for learning how to negotiate this fabulous new resource.
A lot of publications are available on using the Internet and World Wide Web for genealogical research, but none so simple and easy to understand as a new book out by Cherri Melton Flinn.
Perhaps what makes her book so easy to understand is the fact that, like me, Flinn is first a writer and then a genealogist. Of course I'm biased, but I think this often is a better combination than the reverse, when an expert genealogist decides to write.
Genealogy Basics Online is a step-by-step introduction to finding your ancestors through the Internet.
This 212-page paperback book gives basic advice on getting organized before it jumps into computers and the Internet. Her practical counsel applies whether you will write your records with a goose quill or a computer keyboard.
From getting organized, Flinn moves on to using Web browsers and search engines, online resources, genealogical newsgroups and other means of communicating with genealogists via the Internet.
Don't know what a Web browser or search engine is?
No problem. Flinn explains computer terms for neophytes. She also explains how to use resources such as browsers and search engines. Her book is replete with images taken from computer monitors, so readers can see how things look.
Flinn not only introduces you to Web resources, she explains why and how to use them. Again, in very plain English. For instance, in explaining why it's not very productive to go to Yahoo! and type in the surname, Flinn writes: "To understand why a search engine like Yahoo! won't usually give you the genealogy you're looking for, you also have to understand how Web directories work and how to make them work for you." She then proceeds to explain it.
While there's no avoiding some computer jargon, Flinn's explanations are as straightforward and easy to understand as any I've seen. Flinn not only knows what you don't know, she knows how to tell you in a way you can understand.
One of those things all of us need to know is how to select from among thousands of available resources. She guides us to Web resources that might be most useful for our particular purposes. And, importantly, she tells us how to do things that many writers take for granted.
Instead of assuming the reader knows how to download files from the World Wide Web - one of many things genealogists need to know - Flinn explains how without insulting the computer savvy.
Flinn even tells us where to go online to find free genealogy classes. While Genealogy Basics Online will be of most value to beginners, or to those who have only a clue or two, Flinn's book is a valuable resource for grizzled veterans as well.
It is the best how-to book on genealogy that I've encountered. I wish I had written it myself.
Since I didn't have the foresight to do that, I'll just have to be a frequent user. It goes near my computer on the reference shelf.
I always recommend this kind of book be bought from a local book store, if they have it in stock, because there you can heft it and browse a bit and decide whether it speaks to you.
But if it isn't available locally, you can order it from Muska Lipman Publishers. You'll find them on the Web at http://muskalipman.com, or via e-mail at publisher@muskalipman.com. Or write 2645 Erie Ave., Suite 41, Cincinnati, OH 45208. The suggested retail price is $24.95.