At tonight’s Second Life chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists meeting (SL-APG), Craig R. Scott, CG, owner of Heritage Books, spoke to our group about his list of must-have volumes on any genealogy bookshelf.

The top five books, in no particular order, are:

  • Evidence Explained (Elizabeth Shown Mills)
  • Black’s Law Dictionary
  • North Carolina Genealogy (Helen Leary)
  • Professional Genealogy (edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills)
  • Mastering Genealogical Proof (Thomas W. Jones)

Following those books, Craig suggested other great resources for one’s collection, including:

  • The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy (Val Greenwood)
  • Ancestral Trails: The Complete Guide to British Genealogy (Mark D. Herber)
  • and various other How-To, topic specific books.

Craig also discussed the importance of location specific books, which would vary depending on your ancestors. You would want to not only collect books from:

  • The county and location that they lived in, but also
  • Where they migrated from, and
  • Where they went later

So often our ancestors traveled in groups with other relatives, neighbors, and friends!

Craig highly recommended

  • Carrie Eldridge’s migration atlases

as excellent sources of migration routes and patterns to help determine where folks may have come from or gone to.

Heritage Bhbilogoooks has an online store where these and thousands of other genealogy books may be purchased. Go ahead and start your Christmas Wish List now!

APG members: Be sure to get your 15% discount code from www.apgen.org under your member benefits!