52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy How To Books

Week #17 – How-To Book

Week 17: How-To Book: For which genealogy how-to book are you most thankful? Who wrote the book and why does it stand out in your eyes? Is the book currently available? How can other genealogists benefit from its content?

The book that helped me the most is Genealogical Guidebook & Atlas of Denmark by Frank Smith and Finn A. Thomsen. It was first published in 1969 and republished in 1986. Here is the Table of Contents:

• The Four Major Sources
• Some Danish words and their meanings
• Personal given names
• The Gothic Alphabet
• Map of the Counties of Denmark before 1793
• Map of the Counties of Denmark 1793-1970
• Map of the Counties of Denmark after 1970
• List of Parishes and Related Areas
• Maps of the counties showing Parishes
• Sectional Maps
• List of places Keyed to the Sectional Maps

Well I learned to read the Danish Gothic writing pretty well when I was actively researching in the Danish Records from this book, and so later when I took a workshop on the German Script I found I already knew how to read the German Script (but I do not know a single word in German).
The list of Parishes is great also as it also shows how far back those Parish records have been filmed by the Family History Library. My grandfathers parish back to 1692.
Maps and more maps, genealogists love maps and this book has plenty of maps.