So, we've come come to the Germantown Public Library here in Germantown, Ohio. Imagine my excitement when I see on the shelf a compiled family history on one of the families I am working on.
Hard bound in its fancy binding, it's quite a thing sitting there on the shelf, calling out to me...
I remove it from the shelf to see the absolute worst written family history book ever. 552 pages of nothing but names and dates. To some that is no biggie, but tell me please, how it is that you can write a book on family history and not include NOT ONE PLACE NAME in the entire book?
Did I mention no index as well?
Sadly, same book is now resting back on sad shelf.... Ironically, what little I saw, I knew more than the author who "compiled" said work anyway!
Bummed!
7 comments:
I OWN a book like this (The Stricklers of Pennsylvania); it's a wee bit better because residences ARE given, but no citations, no where born, etc.
I own a book almost like this "The Stricklers of Pennsylvania." It DOES tend to tell you where the names lived in the 1940, and sometimes includes an ancestral location or a "mugbook" style biographical sketch. NO references, nothing but descendent lists, other than the above
Wow...that really is a bummer! But, I still think I would want all those names and dates as clues and would probably use it as a guide to verify the people as I found them...making corrections in the book...adding to the book....scratching out wrong info in the book....That's just me. I make notes everywhere.
None is so blind as those who think their family is so unique that everyone will know who they are.
470hnoverab
What an awful disappointment! (I'm like you in that I frequently personify inanimate objects. I can truly imagine how sad both the book shelf feel.) It's hard to imagine why someone would choose to publish such a family history unless he/she is a true novice and really didn't understand the importance of other necessary information. (Perhaps a name and date collector?) Seeing stuff like that makes me want to be more careful with my own research.
Is this one of those "Surname Template" kind of books out of Bath, Ohio by any chance? It sounds like one of those old Halbert books that they used to crank out.
Saw Germantown and wondered about our library, then saw Ohio. I am in Germantown, TN. Hate when you find things like that! Get all excited for nothing!
Hopefully something GREAT is just around the corner... or shelf should I say.
Tina
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