New England Books by Roger Thompson

This past year the opportunity to read New England books written by Roger Thompson occurred several times. Roger teaches at the University of East Anglia in England during the school year and often spends time in New England to explore the early settlers. His book, Divided We Stand, Watertown, Massachusetts 1630-1680, is a phenomenal history of a place and time where at least eight of my early ancestral families lived. Even though it only has 201 pages of the actual text, there are an additional 50 pages of end notes. This is followed by an index of ten pages, which does not appear to include the end notes.

Annie's Ghosts, Helping Us to Understand Our Own

There are surely ghosts in everyone's family and often we don't encounter them or share them with others. In the book, Annie's Ghosts, A Journey into a Family Secret, author Steve Luxenberg shares the ghosts his family encountered when they tried to understand a secret their mother kept from them. In his journalistic trained character he explores records many of us will never see. He was determined to peel away the layers to understand his mother's reasoning for maintaining the secret of her sister who had been committed to a mental institution.

Family Discoveries in Cambridge Cameos

Earlier this week I finished reading the book "Cambridge Cameos" by Roger Thompson. He is the author of several books about New England towns and people. Previously I shared comments about his book "From Death to Defiance" a book about Charlestown, Massachusetts. While my ancestors, the Tidd family, were principally in Charlestown, Lexington, New Town, Cambridge Farms and Woburn prior to the Revolutionary War, they were most likely caught up in changing boundaries as these towns evolved. This family was not found in Cambridge Cameos, but the Stedman family was.

Book Review - Social Networking for Genealogists

Due to my recent injury I am posting a book review first published in June 2010 in the Bulletin, the quarterly of the Genealogical Forum of Oregon.

Drew Smith, Social Networking for Genealogists, Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore, Maryland, 2009, 129 pages. ISBN: 9780806317953

Book Review: The Twig

Lauren Kessler, Stubborn Twig, Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, Oregon, 2008, Pgs. 308.

Audience: Genealogists and Historians with an interest in Japanese immigration and assimilation in the United States around the time of World War II.

Purpose: This book addresses the experience of immigration to the United States and the racial hostility encountered by Japanese immigrants. As a secondary purpose, it is the history of a Japanese family and their experiences over three generations in Hood River, Oregon.

Book Review - Who Do You Think You Are?

Megan Smolenyak, Who Do You Think You Are? The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History, The Penguin Group Inc., New York, New York, 2010, 205 pages.

Audience: This book was written to compliment the television show “Who Do You Think Your are?” and is directed to people desiring to know how to go about researching family history. It is applicable to all ranges of genealogical researchers, providing key tools for successful research.