This book aims to help genealogists at every level learn to trace descendants of ancestors, both direct line and collateral. With step-by-step guidance, methodologies, and practical examples, this guide will give you the tools and confidence to find and make meaningful connections with living family members. In fact, finding living relatives isn’t all that different from tracing your direct-line ancestors and their families. The same skills apply—researching, organizing information, and following clues—but with a focus on connecting the past to the present. This process, known as reverse genealogy, involves creating a detailed family tree, identifying relatives down both ancestral and collateral lines, and using modern tools to track them down.

Cheri Hudson Passey is a professional genealogist, instructor, writer, speaker, and owner of Carolina Girl Genealogy, LLC. She hosts the “GenFriends Genealogy Chat Show on YouTube, where she and a panel of professional genealogists meet weekly to discuss all things genealogy. Cheri began working as a genealogist researcher subcontracted by Eagle Investigative Services, Inc., for the US Army Past Conflict Reparations Branch in 2018. She uses her skills to identify and locate the next of kin, along with YDNA and mtDNA candidates for the families of World War II soldiers who are listed as missing in action. The goal is to use DNA to positively identify remains and, with the permission of next of kin, bring our war heroes home.

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In all, the six volumes contain upwards of 24,000 genealogical sketches. They are arranged alphabetically, and each fact cited therein includes the source of the information. While a minority of the entries are only a few lines long, they, nonetheless, place a pioneer in time and space. Most of the sketches, however, are paragraphs in length, and many are much longer. Here’s a sample entry:

DODMAN, John 2 – WC (1661-63); son of Jn. DODMAN 1 and Elizabeth DEATH (see Jn. DODMAN 1); wit., Jas. CUDWORTH of Newport in [Rhode] Island in the province of Providence, atty. of Wm. BENTON of Roade Island, merch., per virtue of attornyship dtd. 12 Sep 1661, discharge of Dan. HUTT of WC from all transactions, 11 Oct 1661 (WC Deeds Etc 1661-62:55 (53)); on jury that tried case of BUTLER vs. LETTSUM, 29 Apr 1663 (WCOB 1662-54:12) [Named as a son of Jn. & Eliz. (DEATH) DODMAN in the will of Rich. DEATH, Isle of Wight co., 3 Mar 1647 (Isle of Wight Will Book A:17)]

As Mr. Headley writes in the Introduction, there are “stories of great heroism and horrible cruelty, of financial disasters, of great successes, of vicious feuds, of husbands deserting wives and wives deserting husbands, of marriages, births, and funerals, of doctors, blacksmiths, carpenters, ministers, merchants, rogues, scoundrels, and above all planters. . . . Sometimes we see a slice of a person’s life—a few years and then nothing—and occasionally we can follow a person’s entire life from birth to death. . . .  At the very least, this work can provide a guide to locate records about an individual.”

In the Methodology section at the front of each volume, Mr. Headley explains the approach he took in compiling his database, as well as how he addressed the problems associated with 17^th-century spelling and name variants. Extensive appendices appear at the back each volume, covering the project’s sources, bibliography, list of abbreviations, name variants, and placenames. Each volume is fully indexed. The volumes may be purchased as a complete set or volume by volume, according to the following alphabetical sequence: Volume One, A-C; Volume Two, D-G; Volume Three, H-L; Volume Four, M-Q; Volume Five, R-T; and Volume Six, U-Z.

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Mr. MacEntee starts with general information about AI and gradually drills down to its application to genealogy. First, comes a discussion of different AI platforms, such as ChatGPT, which is capable of producing human-like text based on mere fragments of information. AI capabilities can also significantly enhance genealogical research by providing detailed and accurate family histories, streamlining the research processes, and improving the overall family history experience. Here are just a few AI applications for genealogy currently in use:

• Automated Record Matching: AI algorithms quickly analyze large volumes of historical records, identifying matches and connections that might be missed by human researchers.
• Optical Character Recognition (OCR): AI-powered OCR converts scanned documents, such as old handwritten records, into searchable and editable text, making historical data more accessible.
• DNA Analysis: AI analyzes DNA test results, identifies genetic matches, and infers ancestral origins.
• Recommendation Systems: AI suggests potential relatives, documents, or records based on user data and search history, making the research process more intuitive.

The balance of this guide discusses some of the cautionary issues associated with AI. Among them are matters of fair use, and proper source citation. The author then cites a number of pros and cons. On the positive side, AI can establish family connections far faster than humans, whether by translating, transcribing, analyzing, or assimilating it. Conversely, users of AI will may find it difficult to determine the source of AI-driven data, contend with bias, risk copyright infringement, violate other persons’ privacy, and fail to detect false information.

It concludes with a glossary of technical terms users will encounter when using this brave new technology.

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Family history is different. If you want others to learn about where you and they came from, you must command their attention. As Doug Tattershall states in the Introduction to his new book, “We work hard to discover our family tree. But what we [and the people we are writing for] really want to know is our family story.”

So, how does a genealogist transition to family history? You will find the answers here. In fewer than one hundred pages, Doug shows how to start and stay on track in transforming the skeletal outline of a genealogy into an engaging family story. Chapter One discusses the elements of a good story: strong characters, a good plot, and the theme or point of the story—all based on the facts uncovered by your research. Doug draws on his own and others’ family stories and images to make his points. Chapter Two, “The Stuff,” explains how to research with biographical detail in mind, gathering from interviews (oral history), personal letters and diaries, newspaper articles and obituaries, lawsuits, local histories, etc. Chapter Three, “Puzzle Pieces” emphasizes the importance of establishing a timeline to your story, while Chapter Four illustrates how things like paintings or photographs, geographic details, and mementos can add specificity and immediacy to it. In Chapter Five, “Format,” the author draws on his journalism experience and the experience of five other contemporary family storytellers to compare the merits of the various media you can choose from: written narrative, audio, video, blogs, and podcasts. The final chapters emphasize the importance of creating a storyteller’s outline to keep everything together, examples of “Good and True” storytelling, and a helpful family story worksheet.

As Doug Tattershall reminds us, “We research our family histories to satisfy our own curiosity about our past, but we quickly find that we want to share what we have found . . .Telling your family story deserves an effort that incorporates the best practices of the dedicated storyteller. . . Your family history is a story worth telling and, therefore, a story worth telling well.”

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