Catch the Genealogy Bug at the Houston Public Library

 Have you been bitten by the genealogy bug? Ads for DNA tests and genealogy websites lure us in with tantalizing promises of discovering our family history with the click of a mouse. Soon you're online into the wee hours, pouring over census records, passenger lists, and DNA matches. We are fortunate to have so much genealogy material at our fingertips. And yet...why can’t I find Grandma Myrtle’s marriage license? Why are my DNA results different from my siblings? The answers to questions like these and more can be found in two handy guidebooks.

The Unofficial Guide to Ancestry.com helps maximize your use of Ancestry.com. It offers search strategies and family tree tips, but most valuable is its DNA section. This is for all of us who’ve taken DNA tests but don’t know what to do with the results or how to interpret them. Such as, why does my sister show 30 percent Irish, but I only have 18 percent? The short answer: DNA passes on in random segments rather than consistent divided halves.

The Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch.org

If you’re not using FamilySearch.org in your genealogy research, you’re missing out on a wealth of records. As the largest free genealogy website in the word, it has records for practically every country. By using the Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch.org you can learn to navigate their indexed and unindexed records. The record you can't find may be among the unindexed records. Use the suggested search techniques, as I did to uncover an ancestor’s 1763 Pennsylvania tavern license, which revealed his tavern was called The Sign of the Waggon.

It’s details like these that make genealogy fun and addictive. Use these guidebooks to improve your online searching. For further help, visit us at the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical  Research.