Thought this might be of interest to my genealogy friends. Anna Belle The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 2000 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. ============================================================ - Hidden Sources This week I had a chance to read a new book, called "Hidden Sources: Family History in Unlikely Places" by Laura Szucs Pfeiffer. Most people who have been researching their ancestry for some time have already used the "big name" records, such as census records, town clerks records, information from state vital records departments, pension applications, etc. However, this book gives suggestions for those hard-to-find records. If you have been "stone walled" while looking for information about a certain ancestor, this book may give you some new ideas about where to look. "Hidden Sources: Family History in Unlikely Places" offers suggestions for: * Adoption Records * Holocaust Records * Coroner's Inquests * Licenses * Orphan Asylum Records * Slavery Records * Court Records * Patent Records * Almshouse Records * Bankruptcies * Midwife Records * Internal Revenue Service Records * Diaries and Journals * and a lot more... The one that caught my eye was Internal Revenue Service records. I always thought these were never released to the public. According to this book, today's I.R.S. records are kept secret, but those of 1862 through 1866 are available on microfilm. Since I have been searching for years for information about one particular ancestor who was in his prime earning years at that time and most likely subject to taxation, I'm going to look at the I.R.S. records the first chance I get! Without Laura Pfeiffer's book, I wouldn't have thought of this source. Pfeiffer provides clues to the location of the records mentioned and also gives a list of books with further information about each type. She has also included URLs (Web site addresses) to sites with further information about these "hidden sources." This one is a keeper. "Hidden Sources: Family History in Unlikely Places" by Laura Szucs Pfeiffer is an excellent reference book, one that I found very useful. This 312-page hardbound book retails for $39.95 (U.S. funds) but may be available at discount in some bookstores. Any bookstore can obtain it if you specify ISBN 0-916489-86-8. It is published by Ancestry Publishing, a division of MyFamily.com, and is available for secure online ordering on the publisher's Web site for $35.95 plus shipping. For more information, go to: http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog/product.asp?pf%5Fid=1447&dept%5Fid= 10201000 ============================================================ - --------------------------------------------- A. B. Tittsworth - annacat@mindspring.com ___ /) _.-| | |\__/\ ( \ { | | |o o |___ _) ) "-.|___| __.( T ) ` / .--'-`-. _(((_ `^-' /_< \ .+|______|__.--||__) `-'(((/ (((/ - ---------------------------------------------