ROOTS & BRANCHES

I’ll note at the outset that I have a conflict of interest with this book review.

That’s because Michael John Neill is a friend of mine.

He and I met some years ago when we were both serving on the board of the now-defunct Federation of Genealogical Societies, and for the past four years we’ve been regulars on Shamele Jordon’s biweekly “Genealogy Quick Start” TV program.

Also about four years ago, Neill collected a bunch of his “Genealogy Tip of the Day” blog posts into an eponymous self-published book.

Apparently that book sold well enough that Neill decided the world needed a follow-up volume, appropriately titled More Genealogy Tip of the Day (self-published, 437 pages, $29.95), a compilation close to double the size of the original, with all-new content.

As with the first volume, Neill sifted through his originally posted tips before publication and pulled out ones that were dated.

Just a couple examples show how helpful the tips in More can be:

• “If the Date is Approximate, Indicate So”—”If you have estimated a year of birth for someone, include “estimated or “about” to let others know that you are uncertain of the date. Otherwise, what was originally a guess on your part may be interpreted as a ‘fact’ by someone else. Your notes should indicate how you arrived at that estimate or approximation, including the source used.”
• “The Dead Sometimes Move”—“Occasionally bodies are exhumed and moved to other cemeteries, perhaps where a spouse or children are later buried. Whole cemeteries are sometimes moved to make way for roads, construction projects, lakes, etc. There is always the possibility that your ancestor’s final resting place really wasn’t final. Check local county records to see if there is a record of exhumations, cemetery ‘moves,’ or reburials.”

Lots of times the “Tips” are common sense, but don’t we all lose track of that sometimes when we go down a genealogy rabbit hole?

Neill claims this will be his book compilation from his tips blog.

I’ll take him at his word, even though I recall the noted genealogist of the New York Palatines, Henry Z “Hank” Jones Jr. went through a series of books and didn’t settle for a “More” title—he later published an “Even More” volume.

I might have kidded Jones that he was like a bad Frankenstein movie series (when the titles went through “Revenge of …” and “Bride of …” before climaxing with an “I Was a Teenage Frankenstein”) … and that he should have had an “I Was a Teenage Palatine” book.

“I Was a Teenage Tip of the Day” doesn’t quite have the same resonance, but you get my drift. Neill’s going to save us from that!

To order Neill’s book and sign up to have the tips delivered to your e-mail, readers can use this  this URL:  https://genealogytipoftheday.com/