This book provides excellent genealogical resources to help you find your European ancestors from Portugal to Greece.

Baxter explains some of the considerations that are unique to each country. For example, France has a '100 years law' that limits the information that you can access if an individual's record is within the last 100 years. In Italy, there is a record called the Certificate of Family Genealogy (Certificato dello Stato di Famiglia) that can be especially useful. Research in Scandinavian countries, Wales and some areas of the Netherlands and Germany can be difficult because the surnames often changed with each generation.

Some countries receive more or less coverage in this book. For Albania, where most of the church records have been destroyed, there is just a short history. For other countries, there are lists of records, major family names, archives with addresses that you can write to, and information about how records are kept in that country. Often dates are provided indicating when the country first began census and/or church records.

Overall, this book has great details!

Now in a completely revised, updated, and expanded fourth edition, Angus Baxter's In Search Of Your European Roots continues to be the premier guide for the novice genealogist seeking trace ancestors in any and every country throughout Europe. The location of each country's national and municipal archives is recorded, in addition to the location of church records, census returns, the system of civil registrations of births, marriages, and deaths, along with pertinent recommendations on finding and using such records as foundling books, orphans' lists, certificates of domicile, guild records, internal passports, confirmation records, and vaccination lists. Here are a highly recommended wealth of telephone numbers, email addresses, fax numbers, and website addresses for most of the major European archives and genealogically relevant organizations. Of special note in this new edition is the attention paid to the changes brought about by German reunification, the break-up of the Soviet Union, and the dismemberments of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia into smaller political states.

If you've ever tried to follow your family tree in your own country and language, just try doing it halfway around the world!

Baxter's book is packed full of useful information for your quest to dig up information about European ancestors. I was particularly interested in the sections on eastern European countries -- these are so often overlooked in "European" reference works, but Baxter has included what was available at the time of publication.

Very helpful are sections on the history of national boundaries (the ancestor you regard as Polish may have been, at the time if his life, German, Austro-Hungarian, Bohemian, Polish, or Russian!), and an index of changed place-names.

This was a very helpful addition to my growing genealogy library, and will be to yours, too.

The sub-title of "A complete guide to tracing your ancestors in the Germanic areas of Europe" is rather misleading. It is not "complete" by any stretch of the imagination.

This is a very brief introduction (103 pages of text) to a very large topic. Some aspects of German research are treated in only the most cursory manner - the Lutheran church covered in a chapter of a single page while the Germans in Canada are dealt with in only 3 pages.

The section on German record types leaves the reader wishing for more information. Which is the feeling the entire book gives "I wish there was more here".

While this book has been updated to reflect the reunification of Germany, this is not Angus Baxter's best book. His "In Search of Your British & Irish Roots" and "In Search of Your Canadian Roots" are much more comprehensive in their scope. Because this book compares poorly with his other works, I have given it only two stars.

If you're researching German ancestors who emigrated to the U.S. or Canada, then this book is a good place to start.
Baxter provides a brief history of Germany and describes German migrations over the centuries to specific areas of central Europe such as Silesia, the Banat, parts of Slovakia, the Ukraine, and southern Russia. Baxter also traces migration patterns into North America where many Germans settled in Pennsylvania, the mid-West, and the Kitchener area of Canada.
He describes the different groups that settled in specific areas, including their place of origin, religious background, and dates of migration.
There is also a lot of useful naming information, which includes the changing of names' spellings, the system of patronymics used in some areas of northern Germany, the use of 'von' or 'Von' in one's surname, and the use of diminutives in first names.

This is a great place to start for German genealogy. Mr. Baxter gives a brief history of Germany (including the Soviet breakup) and locations of record repositories. As in all of his other book, he tells you how to start your research (talk to Grandma before it's too late!), an overview of the LDS organization and tips and guides to doing research in Germany. He also gives you information on the languages of the area and what types of records you might expect to find. Do not despair of finding people in Germany-Mr. Baxter can help. You'll never regret buying this book.

This was one of the very first books I obtained to learn about UK & Irish research. It's full of the basics of UK research and also describes the unique and peculiar aspects of regional research in the British Isles.

This is a solid starting point for hunting your ancestors from the UK and Ireland. It helpfully provides information about county-level records for all English & Welsh counties.

It remains close at hand on my bookshelf as a well-thumbed reference guide.

My great-great grandmother was supposedly born on St Patrick's Day in Dublin...how and why she got from there to Alamosa Co (250 mi from everywhere) before the end of the ninteenth century has been a lingering question of mine for many years. Mr Baxter's book has given me an approach to the question, not to mention a curiously practical guide to the civil and religious meanders of the British Isles' last 1000 years.

He presents the information I need to start... what to expect, what not to expect and where many genealogical goodies are stashed both "over the water" and here not 5 miles from my home, as it turns out. Who knew?

If you are reading this Mr Baxter, thank you so much for the hours and blind alleys you have no doubt saved me from...

I looked at Mr. Baxter's book at the public library and being a member of the Victoria Genealogical Society I was most interested in his observations on our society. I was shocked at the incredibly inaccurate comments that he had published.

The entry starts with the society's name - which he correctly entered. However he then gives the reader an address that is several years out of date. In early 1993 the VGS changed it's address to: Victoria Genealogical Society, P.O Box 45031, Mayfair Postal Outlet, Victoria, BC, V8Z 7G9. Checking in the Genealogical Research Directories (GRD)it was noted that they have published the correct address since their 1993 edition. To cover himself he states that "the addresses given are accurate at the time of writing" but surely Mr. Baxter has access to the GRD.

The rest of the article continues with inaccuracy after inaccuracy and it becomes clear that Mr. Baxter has not done any research into the VGS.

He states that the society "holds few meetings". The fact is that for most of our twenty plus years the VGS has held regular, well-attended meetings ten months of the year. No meetings are held in July or August. Meetings always feature a speaker.

He states that the VGS "does not appear to have any ongoing projects". One large project can be seen on the B.C. Archives website, namely the indexes to births, marriages and deaths. These indexes, produced mostly by VGS members, set a standard that other provinces should emulate. He does mention the indexes briefly under the B.C. Archives stating "Please note, the indexes to Birth, Marriage, and Death registrations are located in the Vital Events section of the Web site". No more details are given to this most useful tool.

Among the other ongoing projects are the extraction of details from coroner's reports and the indexing of stones and burial records of Royal Oak Cemetery. So far over 67,000 burial records have been extracted at Royal Oak and all the stones have been recorded. This is a work in progress and will be published in the future.

He states that the VGS "produces a Surname Index only at occasional interval". The last two were produced in 1997 and 1999. The 1997 version was produced on paper and microfiche. The last one is an ongoing surname index and can be viewed on the VGS website. It is being updated regularly.

To try and justify his contention that the VGS is "the least active of all the provincial-capital societies" he quotes an un-named and totally un-identified person. This person states that "this lack of activity is caused by the fact that only a handful of our 150 members have any British Columbia or Vancouver Island roots". We actually have nearly 400 members and are very active.

He omits to mention that the VGS has one of the finest genealogical libraries in Canada. He also omits the fact that the VGS has an active and effective queries committee.

He fails to mention that the society has hosted two very successful daylong seminars in the last two years. Lady Tiviot, May 1998, and Cindy Howells (of Cindy's List fame), Oct 1999, were the feature guests to the sold out events.

What a pity that Mr. Baxter was too lazy to check the VGS website . Why didn't he write a letter to our president asking for comments or find some way to give the society a chance to defend itself against such untrue statements.

When writing a fact based book every effort should be made to be thorough, accurate and fair. On just this one page I have been very disappointed to find that a man who produces many genealogy books may be too busy to get the facts right.

In his book I was not able to find any comments on the Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid (OCFA) or the British Columbia Cemetery Finding Aid (BCCFA). These are two of the best research tools and are freely available to all but he does seem to know about them. Both are produced by two members of the VGS. He also makes only a passing comment on the extremely important 1871 Ontario Census Index.

He seems to think that there is a provincial genealogical society in B.C. In fact the British Columbia Genealogical Society is the Vancouver area genealogical society and has no status as a provincial body and does not claim such a status.

I won't read the rest of his book or any other of his books. He has lost my trust.

Gives a great general over view of many Canadian record sources sorted by province. Greater detail is needed in the western Canadian provinces. More information on accessing Latter-Day Saints Collection and other resources which are availiable for research outside of local collections is needed. As well as more information on organization of research material. Which is essential to productive research. One of the best resouses for Canadian genealogical research. Great resource for those just starting out to the expert genealogist.

Mr. Baxter starts with the assumption that you know nothing about genealogy and takes you step-by-step in the genealogical process. He makes it seem very easy but also warns of pitfalls that may occur. Along with his other books, In Search of English & Irish and In Search of German Genealogy, you will never need any other genealogy books. He has not written one for US research but he has the rest of the world covered. He tells you where to write for information, what kind of data you can expect from these places and gives examples of his own Canadian research. Buy this book and you will never be disappointed.