Here's a review of a new book by Dick Eastman in his online genealogical newsletter. While he says the book lists all censuses that have been transcribed, indexed or placed on CD we know that is impossible as new ones are added daily. But the rest of the information might be useful in your research. Disclaimer: This does not constitute an endorsement of the book and is presented for your information only. - The Census Book Bill Dollarhide is a well-known and prolific genealogy author and lecturer. He has just released a new book that will be of interest to most people researching ancestors who lived in the United States. The full title of the book is "The Census Book - A Genealogist's Guide to Federal Facts, Schedules and Indexes." The 183-page book indeed does live up to its full title. It gives detailed descriptions of each census schedule and identifies every known U.S. census index ever published. The Census Book gives a complete tabulation of all U.S. Federal Censuses including non- population census schedules and where the records are located today. It gives many unknown facts and peculiarities about census records. The Census Book also includes maps of the United States as it changed and grew over the years. Looking for ancestors in the 1820 census in the area known today as Wisconsin? A quick look at the map on page 29 shows that present-day Wisconsin was a part of the Michigan Territory in the 1820 census. Therefore the ancestors would be listed in the 1820 census as living in the Michigan Territory. Do you want to know if a particular census return for a state has been indexed? Or, even better, has it been transcribed to CD-ROM? If so, The Census Book will tell you. It lists all the census indexes as well as the Broderbund CD-ROM census CD-ROM disks. According to a reference in the book's preface, "this review spends considerable space correcting errors found in the descriptions of censuses and indexes found on CD-ROM publications." The Census Book apparently does not cover census CD-ROM disks made by companies other than Broderbund, however. The Census Book also contains blank census extraction forms. You can photocopy these forms and then use them to copy and track your ancestor's information as you view these original source documents. Now for the fun part: a CD-ROM of the entire book is included inside the back cover. When you purchase this book, you actually receive two copies: one printed on paper and an exact duplicate in electronic form on CD-ROM. You can search for every word in the book. Since I have many ancestors who lived in Penobscot County, Maine, I did a search on the word "Penobscot." Within seconds, I found every reference to that word contained in the book. I was able to print any or all pages of the book. Before going to the library or a local Family History Center, I can print a copy of the page that describes the microfilm reel that I wish to view, including the Family History Library Call Number. The blank census extraction forms described earlier are also available in the CD-ROM version. The user can print very high- quality blank forms on a laser or inkjet printer. The Census Book CD-ROM uses Adobe Acrobat 4.0 software, an excellent choice. The required software is included for use with Windows 95, 98 or NT. The Census Book CD-ROM should also operate properly on a Macintosh although the Mac software is not included. You can download Adobe Acrobat for Macintosh at no charge from Adobe's website at http://www.adobe.com. Most of the normal Acrobat commands are supported in The Census Book CD-ROM. However, I could not find any method to cut-and-paste data from the book to other Windows applications using the Windows Clipboard. The CD-ROM uses bookmarks as a sort of Table of Contents. It does not seem to have the capability for adding new bookmarks or annotations. "The Census Book - A Genealogist's Guide to Federal Facts, Schedules and Indexes" by William Dollarhide is a valuable addition to the bookshelf of any genealogist doing research in the United States. The availability of "twin copies," one on paper and another on CD-ROM, is an excellent method of meeting everyone's needs and preferences. "The Census Book" is published by Heritage Quest and lists for $24.95 U.S. funds. However, when I looked at Heritage Quest's website, I noticed that the price there was shown as $22.45. Shipping charges will add a bit more to that price. For more information about this excellent new book, look at: http://www.heritagequest.com Cheryl Rothwell Logan County, IL, ILGenWeb - LoganCty@mindspring.com http://www.rootsweb.com/~illogan/loindex.htm Logan County mailing list> LOGAN-L-request@rootsweb.com Downing mailing list> DOWNING-L-request@rootsweb.com Harding mailing list> HARDING-L-request@rootsweb.com Downing query board> http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/FamilyAssoc/Downing Lucas query board> http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/FamilyAssoc/Lucas