United States History

Effective family research requires some understanding of the historical events that may have affected your family and the records about them. Learning about wars, governments, laws, migrations, and religious trends may help you understand political boundaries, family movements, and settlement patterns. These events may have led to the creation of records that your family was listed in, such as land and military documents.

Your ancestors will become more interesting to you if you also use histories to learn about the events that were of interest to them or that they may have been involved in. For example, by using a history you might learn about the events that occurred in the year your great-grandparents were married.

You can find national, state, or local histories in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under one of the following:

UNITED STATES - HISTORY [STATE] - HISTORY [STATE], [COUNTY] - HISTORY [STATE], [COUNTY], [TOWN] - HISTORY

United States History
The following are only a few of the many sources that are available at most large libraries:

Schlesinger, Jr., Arthur M. The Almanac of American History. Greenwich, Connecticut: Bison Books, 1983. (FHL book 973 H2alm.) This provides brief historical essays and chronological descriptions of thousands of key events in United States history.

Webster's Guide to American History: A Chronological, Geographical, and Biographical Survey and Compendium. Springfield, Massachusetts: G&amp;C Merriam, 1971. (FHL book 973 H2v.) This includes a history, some maps, tables, and other historical information.

Dictionary of American History, Revised edition, Eight Volumes. New York, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976. (FHL book 973 H2ad.) This includes historical sketches on various topics in U.S. history, such as wars, people, laws, and organizations.

Local Histories
Some of the most valuable sources for family history research are local histories. Published histories of towns, counties, and states usually contain accounts of families. They describe the settlement of the area and the founding of churches, schools, and businesses. You can also find lists of pioneers, soldiers, and civil officials. Even if your ancestor is not listed, information on other relatives may be included that will provide important clues for locating your ancestor. A local history may also suggest other records to search.

Most county and town histories include separate sections or volumes containing biographical information. These may include information on as many as 50 percent or more of the families in the locality.

In addition, local histories should be studied and enjoyed for the background information they can provide about your family's life-style and the community and environment in which your family lived.

About 5,000 county histories have been published for over 80 percent of the counties in the United States. For many counties there is more than one history. In addition, tens of thousands of histories have been written about local towns and communities. Bibliographies that list these histories are available for nearly every state. These are listed in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under [STATE] - BIBLIOGRAPHY or [STATE] - HISTORY - BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Local histories are extensively collected by the Family History Library, public and university libraries, and state and local historical societies. Two useful guides are:

Filby, P. William. A Bibliography of American County Histories. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1985. (FHL book 973 H23bi.)

Kaminkow, Marion J. United States Local Histories in the Library of Congress. Five Volumes. Baltimore, Maryland: Magna Charta Book, 1975-76. (FHL book 973 A3ka.)