Book Reviews

Book Reviews Family Diseases: Are You At Risk? By Myra Vanderpool Gormley. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1989. 165 pp. $14.95. The author has set herself the admirable task of synthesizing the biological field of Medical Genetics and the historical field of Genealogy. This is a worthy endeavor. As a geneticist and genealogist, the reviewer approached his task with anticipation. The genealogical literature is not devoid of articles published by competent geneticists, but one looks in vain for a "List of Works Consulted" or a bibliography. There is none. Also missing is an index to locate the various diseases and the discussion of inheritance mechanisms. But then the garish yellow dustjacket, the shrill subtitle, and the bright red cover with the word "RISK" printed two inches high should have been enough to convey the fact that this book uses a sensationalist approach to what is in reality a very important subject. In recent years many fine books on Human Inheritance have been written. They are directed to the educated and educable laymen who desire a nonspecialist introduction to this field. Happily, they replace many pseudoscientific books still found on the shelves of many public libraries which attempted to graft the young science of genetics onto some very poor nineteenth-century anecdotal studies, some of a genealogical nature. The author's work must be evaluated in terms of what is currently available to the average reader who seeks genetic and genealogical knowledge. It is difficult to know for what group of readers this book is intended. The average second-year high-school biology text has a better treatment of Modern Genetics. There are modes of inheritance that are non-Mendelian. Some cancers (some melanomas) are inherited in Mendelian fashion. Most cancers are not. Does the action of an environmental carcinogen require an oncogene in the genome? Medical Science as yet has no definitive answer. Diabetes is a term that defines many medical entities, some with obvious genetic patterns, others not so clearly. There are subjects like polygenic inheritance, multigene action, pleiotropism, phenocopies, crossingover, all of which can be experimentally demonstrated in animal 138 Book Reviews 139 genetics and therefore must play a role in Human Genetics which can only be postulated or inferred. Family size and rarity of many of these disease conditions create statistical difficulties. Just because every member of the family falls victim to the common cold does not make it a familial disease of genetic origin. Now, let us turn our attention to the genealogical aspects. Genealogists who examine death certificates and cemetery records of death should be aware that the nomenclature, terminology, and understanding of many causes of death have changed radically over the years. It therefore is very difficult even for a physician to properly evaluate these documents. The definition of "flux" (p. 105) could cover at least six different causative organisms (none with any genetic connection). Paresis (p. 105) has almost always referred to neuro-syphilis. Syphilis was a great cause of death in the nineteenth century. One of its most famous victims was the composer Johannes Brahms. It is very risky for a lay person to attempt to assess an historical diagnosis without a very thorough knowledge of the history of medicine at that particular period. This is a matter best left to highly skilled experts. With the advent of fetal monitoring techniques such as amniocentesis, ultrasound, and other chromosome studies, much genetic information can be elucidated. Incidentally, families that are at great genetic risk are usually aware of it and often try to keep it very quiet. It is a pity therefore to alarm families with an occasional alcoholic or an older person with some memory loss. All families have a medical and genetic history. It is a piece of blatant sensationalism to unduly alarm people. Having discovered that Uncle Joe had arthritis and Aunt Min died of pneumonia at age 96 hardly adds genealogical or genetic information to the pedigree. It takes a highly detailed pedigree of several generations and many collaterals to add dimension to the analysis of genetic disease. It is therefore with a great deal of sadness that I cannot recommend this book to my fellow genealogists. Louis S. Marks, Professor Emeritus of Genetics, Saint Joseph's University American Passenger Arrival Records: A Guide to the Records of Immigrants Arriving at American Ports by Sail and Steam. By Michael Tepper. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1988. 134 pp., clothbound, $18.95. Here indeed is a wonderfully concise introduction to a complex accumulation of records so necessary to American genealogists. No 140 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine other country in the world shares the unique genesis of the American population. We are indeed "a nation of immigrants." The genealogist faced with the overwhelming volume of these records will benefit by a careful reading of this will-written and logically organized book. Of all classes of records usually consulted by genealogists, passenger arrival records must rank as the most frustrating. Their sheer numbers, the physical act of consulting endless rolls of microfilm, and the often disappointing end result all can add up to some of the less memorable moments in genealogical research. To the beginning genealogist, arrival records promise much and deliver little. The beginner expects details not at all consistent with the purpose for which the documents were originally created. He or she is bitterly disappointed when the country of origin is given merely as Germany or Ireland or Italy without the specification of province, county, or town. To the advanced student of genealogy, the circumstances of the different types of immigration, the physical placement of names on lists, the particular vessels utilized for transport, the port of embarkation—all these provide valuable clues when considered in the broad historical perspective. To his credit, Dr. Tepper does not minimize the difficulties inherent in passenger arrival records (p. 63). But by using this book in systematic fashion and paying close attention to what it has to say, many but not all the difficulties may be surmounted. In this respect, it is a refreshing corrective to some accounts of these records written in a pollyannish fashion by those who have never used them. This is a serious book with ample documentation. Bibliographic references, including National Archives film numbers, abound in the text. The notes (pp. 40-48) appended to the section on the colonial period taken collectively are a mini-bibliographic essay. Appendix A, while titled "The Hamburg Emigration Lists," also covers the fate of the Bremen emigration records and corrects the recurring myth that they were all destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II. Appendix B provides a handy checklist of passenger list publications. Because of his editorial experience with this type of record, Dr. Tepper has done his work well, and we are indebted to him for a useful, concise guide through a class of records much discussed but seldom used effectively. Louis S. Marks Book Reviews 141 Colonial Pennsylvania Immigrants from Freinsheim in the Palatinate. By Annette K. Burgert. AFB Publications, Myerstown, Pa., 1989. 40 pp., maps, illustrations, index. $11.50, Pa. residents add 6% sales tax. This is eighth in the Pennsylvania German Origins Monograph series and documents 40 families from the village of Freinsheim, located a few miles west of Frankenthal and Ludwigshafen in the Palatinate. Emigration from this village started at an early date, and eleven of the documented families arrived in the period prior to 1727 when the Pennsylvania ship lists start. The family records were compiled from both Lutheran and Reformed church records in Freinsheim. Pennsylvania documentation and a bibliography of sources complete the monograph. Many of the families settled in the Goshenhoppen and Perkiomen regions of what is now Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. This monograph, as with all of Mrs. Burgert's research, is excellently done and should make descendants of these early Pennsylvania German settlers very happy. Jane Adams Clarke West Virginia Genealogy Sources & Resources. By Carol McGinnis. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1988. 129 pp., appendixes, index, cloth. $18.50. Carol McGinnis's first words, "this is not a how to" book, set the tone for her compact guide to genealogical sources in the Mountain State. After several pages of historical background, McGinnis begins her list of places helpful to ancestor tracers with a tally of county courthouses. The author suggests other sources including the predictable family Bibles, tombstones, and newspapers, as well as a surprising reference to an index of coal mining deaths. Further information centers are noted, such as census and veteran records, slave schedules, and tax lists. The book's main emphasis, however, is upon the genealogical collections of West Virginia University at Morgantown; the Archives and Historical Library in Charleston; and, county by county, the historical and genealogical collections and societies throughout the state. West Virginia Genealogy cannot help but be a productive reference guide. John A. Baird, Jr. 142 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Adams County Church Records of the 18th Century. Compiled by F. Edward Wright. Family Line Publications, Westminster, Md. 304 pp., index; paperbound. SI 8.50 plus $1.50 shipping. This is a collection of births, marriages, and deaths in the area that became Adams County, Pennsylvania, in the eighteenth century. Adams County was created in 1800 from York County. Included in this compilation are records from the following churches: St. John's Lutheran Church, Germany Township; Christ Evangelical and Reformed Church (Conewago), Littlestown; Conewago Chapel, Edge Grove; St. John's Lutheran Church, Abbottstown; Abbottstown Reformed Church (Emanuel Reformed); Christ's Church, York Springs; Upper Bermudian "Ground Oak" Church, Huntingdon Township; Lower Bermudian Church, Laimore Township; Bender's Church, near Biglersville, Butler Township; Arendtsville Lutheran and Reformed Congregations, Arendts\tulle; Dutch Reformed of Conewago, Straban Township; Rock Creek United Presbyterian Congregation of Gettysburg; Upper Marsh (Marsh Creek, Gettysburg) Presbyterians; Menallen Monthly Meeting; Huntington Monthly Meeting. Contained in this volume is information on each church, including information as to where the original or the copy of the record used for this work is deposited. It is always helpful when researching to have church records for the same area together; however, when transcribing records, errors can be made. This margin of error can be compounded when the records being published have been previously translated and abstracted. Originals should always be checked. This book, however, is an excellent guide. Jane Adams Clarke The Diary of William Maclay and Other Notes on Senate Debates, March 4, 1789—March 3, 1791. Edited by Kenneth R. Bowling and Helen Eveit. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1988. 499 pp., index; hardcover, $39.50, paperback, $19.95. William Maclay served a two-year term in the first Federal Congress as a senator from Pennsylvania. His diary reveals fascinating legislative detail and much about the straight-laced character and peevish personality of the author. The first entry (Friday, 24 April 1789) sets the cantankerous tone of the book by belittling George Washington. Successive accounts continue the denigration of the president and feature constant carping about Vice President John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Book Reviews 143 Henry Knox, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton. Maclay's animosity toward Adams provided the impetus to keep the diary. He addressed the early American statesman with "Oh, what a wretch thou art." The contentious legislator produced a highly readable, interestholding volume which can be enjoyed without introduction. He made notes during Senate debates and later rewrote them in narrative style, adding personal observations. Extensive present-day editorial footnotes provide helpful background information, one of which surprised this reviewer with the identification of Washington as "a planter, politician and land speculator from Alexandria, Virginia." Readers who might approve Maclay's predictable populist opposition to British parliamentary precedents for the new nation and share his distaste for government pomp and ceremony will surely deplore his graceless, anti-social carping about the personality traits of the country's leaders. Some of the curmudgeon's boorish behavior stemmed from his poor health. The diary is punctuated with frequent references to his rheumatism, his bad knees, and the primitive medicine of those days. Maclay's aloof, quarrelsome manner prevented his reelection to Congress. After his two-year term he moved to the Harrisburg area and later served in the Pennsylvania legislature. This is an informal, absorbing record of early American democratic government in action recorded by a lonely figure outside the inner circles of the newborn United States government. John A. Baird, Jr. Emigrants from England to the American Colonies, 1773-1776. By Peter Wilson Coldham. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1988. 182 pp., index. $22.50. This list updates and corrects the Fothergill title of the same name, published in 1964 and reprinted in 1976, which in turn was based on abstracts published between 1908-1911 in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. The Scottish entries are not in this edition and are to be published at a later date. Covering as it does the period just prior to the American Revolution and containing the names of many young men in their twenties, it probably should provide the point of origin of many Revolutionary War veterans. Alas, like so many other sources the places of origin taken from the official documents, i.e., port registers submitted to 144 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine the Treasury (all now in the Public Record Office), indicate places such as London, Surrey, Yorkshire, Essex, and even Scotland. Every beginning genealogist dreams of large masses of official emigration records replete with genealogical detail and minute preciseness of the place of origin. Well, here is an official return, and the place of origin of most individuals is in the same category as that found in passenger lists and naturalization records on the American side. What is highly significant about this list is the large number of ports of embarkation, Bideford, Brighton, Bristol, Deal, Exeter, Falmouth, Hull, Liverpool, London, Newcastle, Plymouth, Poole, Portsmouth, Scarborough, Stockton, Whitby, Whitehaven, and Yarmouth. Some draft sailing vessels could utilize many ports for transatlantic traffic which the later vessels of larger size could not utilize. In later years, however, many of these ports were ports of transshipment for emigrants from Ireland, Scotland, and many parts of the Continent. The list is arranged by port, then by date, name of ship, and destination. For each emigrant we have the place of origin (usually at the county level), occupation, and age. Often a reason for emigration is given, but these usually are very general. Children and wives often are indicated by some ports; only the designation "wife and seven children" is given in others. There is an ample index of persons and an index of ships. One notes with some pleasure and amusement that 40-year-old William Shakespear of Yorkshire, a merchant, was on his way to Philadelphia to trade, a possible ancestor for many American Shakespeares who fondly dream of descent from the other William. This is yet another of Mr. Coldham's excellent publications. Louis S. Marks Further Undertakings of a Dead Relative Collector. By Laverne Galeener-Moore. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1989. 167 pp., paperback. $9.95. The first word of this book, "Prolegomena" (as a substitute for "introduction") sets the tone for this humorous commentary on the mores of contemporary genealogical concern. Bouncy prose, augmented by the lively sketches of Randy Calhoun, carries the reader through a variety of adventures ranging from the attic to the basement and, farther afield, through the cemetary to the courthouse and military archives. Perplexities faced by the determined family fact finder are interspersed with hilarious descriptions of actual discoveries. The author Book Reviews 145 is memorable in her account of oldtime diseases our ancestors knew, including ague, catarrh, and dyspepsia. Galeener-Moore balances repeated swipes at computer freaks with particular adventures at such places as the Latter-Day Saints Family History Library in Salt Lake City. This is a thoroughly enjoyable book. John A. Baird, jr. Irish Emigration Lists, 1833-1839. (Lists of Emigrants Extracted from the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Counties Londonderry and Antrim). By Brian Mitchell. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1989. 128 pp., indes. $20.00. This work, while limited in scope as to places and time, is nonetheless an extremely important contribution to the Irish Emigrant literature. In dealing with places of origin in Ireland, five categories are important: county, barony, union, parish, and townland. In this list the arrangement is of parishes listed alphabetically by county. For each emigrant, name, age, year left, towniand, and, what is most important, destination, is given. Since the destination of many is given as Glasgow, Quebec, St. John, or Jamaica, this also is an important book for Scottish, Canadian, and West Indian researchers. The destination "Liverpool" can indicate an intermediate port of transshipment. The destination England might indicate a more permanent settlement. There are several Australian destinations given. Some of the lists represent seasonal migrants who probably returned to their Irish place of origin. This is acre-famine emigration list, and the material on which it is based, i.e., memoirs in connection with the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, was later used and referenced in the Griffiths Valuation. The Valuations themselves often date from the post-famine years. Of very great importance in this publication is the variety of religious affiliations listed, which should give beginning Irish researchers some food for thought. The two counties covered are both in Northern Ireland. The religion of each listed person is given. There are nine religious denominations listed: Roman Catholic, Established Church, i.e., Church of Ireland (the Anglican Church in Ireland), Presbyterian, Seceder, Independent, Methodist, Moravian, Covenanter, and Baptist. Surprisingly, there are no Quakers listed. There was a group of Quakers in County Antrim that had migrated from the county of Cumberland in England. 146 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine This is a valuable contribution in the Irish genealogical area. It is provided with an adequate index. Louis S. Marks Ohio Guide to Genealogical Sources. By Carol Willsey Bell, C.C. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1988. 372 pp., hardcover. $30.00. As the title indicates, this book is simply a register of genealogical records and sources in the Buckeye State. The text is divided into 88 sections, each of which lists the pertinent ancestor information centers for a specific county alphabetically from Adams through Franklin and Portage to Wyandot. Each section begins with eleven geographical and historical facts, including date of creation of the county, county seat designation, and courthouse address. Surrounding counties and townships are indicated, and the author includes, where applicable, a "Special Note" such as the terse message for Hardin County, "Courthouse fire in 1853 destroyed many records." Carol Bell then identifies microfilm court and Ohio Historical Society record sources including those of common pleas, district, and probate courts, together with the county home register and marriage and cemetery records. Census schedules, tax records, and miscellaneous published sources round out the listings. There is even a "Newspaper Guide" for each area. County sections vary in length, with Carroll, for example, needing only two and one-half pages and Montgomery running to eight for its complete source tally. The difference comes in the number of items for a given category. The publisher calls this thorough catalogue of genealogical reference "breathtaking." It is indeed impressive. John A. Baird, Jr. Ohio Valley Genealogies. By Charles A. Hanna. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1989. 172 pp. $17.50. Ohio Valley Genealogies, Charles A. Hanna's deservedly popular work containing genealogies of the first families who settled in Pennsylvania between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Alleghenies, and of those families who migrated across the Ohio River and made the first settlements in the Northwest Territory, has been made available again in a third reprinting since its first appearance in 1900 in New York. The work treats of approximately 350 first immigrant families in alphabetical order and provides names of Book Reviews 147 children and their dates and places of birth, the names of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as a lengthy introduction on the origin of these early settlers. The majority were Scots-Irish, Quakers, and Germans who went west from Cumberland, York, and Chester counties, Pennsylvania, and Southern settlers from Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia who had extended their settlements along the Monongahela River. Aubrey H. Baldwin, III Sources for Searching Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. By Karen B. Cavanaugh. Watermill Publications, Fort Wayne, Ind., 1987. 24 pages, paper. $11.95 postpaid. This computerized listing contains over 800 resources for searching records in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Books and articles are listed by category or record type. Some of these categories are: atlas/maps, biography, births, Bible, cemetery, census, church, court, deaths, deeds, divorces, family history, funeral and mortuary records, newspapers, probate, tax, and wills. The repositories listed are the Allen County Public Library, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Library of the Historical and Genealogical Societies of Pennsylvania, Library of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, National Archives, Presbyterian Historical Society, Pennsylvania State Archives, Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary Library, Library of the Genealogical Society of Utah, and the State Library of Pennsylvania. Only nine societies and publications are used in this compilation, including the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine, the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Your Family Tree, the Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, and Old Westmoreland. This book is, therefore, limited in its scope. It does not, for example, tell where original documents such as wills, administrations, and deeds, can be found. Jane Adams Clarke The A-Z Guide to Tracing Ancestors in Britain, 3d ed. By F. C. Markwell and Pauline Saul. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1989. 224 pp., paperback. $14.95. This book is a handy dictionary-type guide to British genealogical research. Many of the entries have bibliographic annotations that permit of further study. This is the third edition of a very useful book. In spite of the title, it is not a strictly organized guide to tracing ancestors. Rather it is a compendium which is wide ranging 1 48 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine in its subject matter, arranged in strict alphabetical order. The entries vary from one-line definitions (fell monger, N.H., hind, for example) to several-paragraph entries (e.g., Huguenots, Factory Acts, Domesday Book). Particularly valuable are the entries devoted to the various repositories, such as the British Library, the Public Record Office, and the Prerogative Courts of Canterbury and York. Nor should such general topics as estate records, emigration records, wills, and workhouses be overlooked. The entries are augmented by a series of county maps (pre- and post-1974) and an especially good diagram of the record repositories in central London. There is much important information on the location of various types of records divided between the Public Record Office in Chancery Lane and that at Kew. It would nit be unwise to suggest that this paperback should be in every genealogist's briefcase during a trip to the British Isles. This book typifies the approach of the Federation of Family History Societies in Britain. It makes available an unusually large amount of information in a concise, readable, and usable form. It is very highly recommended. Louis S. Marks German Church Books: Beyond the Basics. By Kenneth L. Smith. Picton Press, Camden, Maine, 1989. 294 pp., index, hardcover, acid-free paper. $29.50. Researching in a foreign language is not easy, but this book will help even the beginner decipher German church records. The author has called on his personal experience and gives numerous examples of problems encountered, such as when archaic spelling or a dialect word is encountered. As the author points out in his introduction, foreknowledge of the existence of certain types of problems puts the reader half-way to solving them. In a very readable manner the author takes the reader through a logical progression of research in German church books. In the Appendix are excellent examples of handwriting. A chart is shown with examples of the German script alphabet. This chart deals primarily with script that deviates from the standardized form, either because it comes from an earlier period or because of idiosyncrasies of individual writers. Other highlights of this volume are dialectic variants, abbreviations, symbols, and an excellent bibliography. This book is a must for Book Reviews 149 anyone, whether beginner or advanced, who researches in German records. Jane Adams Clarke The Original Scots Colonists of Early America, 1612-1783. By David Dobson. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1989. 370 pp., Clothbound. $28.50. The diversity of sources consulted and abstracted makes this book an important source for researching the Scottish immigration to the American Colonies between 1612 and 1783. Unlike earlier books of this type, each entry is thoroughly documented so that the researcher may go beyond the list presented and check the original source. Fully seven out of the fifteen entries on the first page represent "Transportation," and in each case the offense is given. This insures that the list represents not only "persons of quality" but covers the entire broad spectrum of the various social classes. Research in foreign archives can be very time-consuming and frustrating, as short-term visitors to foreign countries learn to their dissatisfaction. Therein lies the importance of a book of this type. Before embarking on a research tour, the researcher should consult a list of this type for the colonist of interest. If he or she appears, and the entry is substantiated by published transcripts of official records, many of which exist in the larger libraries in the United States, much time and effort can be saved. After such a preliminary winnowing, what remains is for the researcher to consult original records in the Public Record Office and the Scottish Records Office. Here again an examination of the catalogue on microfiche of the Family History Library may reveal records filmed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and available in the United States. Mr. Dobson has served his readers well. His book joins an increasing number of easily available books which save valuable time for the researcher. Louis S. Marks Prepare to Publish! What Every Prospective Author Needs to Know About Manuscript Preparation and Book Production. Gateway Press/Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1989. Video, VHS, 28 min. $49.95 plus $2.50 shipping. Prepare to Publish! is an entertaining, slickly-produced video tape introduction to the process of making a book. The tape is in the VHS format and has a running time of 28 minutes. 150 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine The viewer is conducted on a step-by-step tour of book production, from the typing of the manuscript through the manufacturing of the finished volumn. For those unfamiliar with offset printing, the section showing the manufacture of a book by that process is good but regrettably short. Perhaps the best piece of advice for a would-be author (of a book or of an article for the Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine or any other scholarly journal) is offered at the beginning of the tape: It is advisable to prepare the manuscript on a computer. Additions and corrections are much easier to make on a computerized, or electronic, manuscript than on "hard copy" produced with a typewriter. Also, a computerized manuscript can be sent to a publisher (or a journal editor) on a floppy disk, from which it can be set directly into type. This eliminates the need for a typesetter to keyboard the manuscript, saving time and money and reducing opportunities for error. A significant point to keep in mind while viewing Prepare to Publish! is not acknowledged until the end of the tape. The process shown is for "self-published" books, where the author pays the cost for production of his or her book. Formerly, a book produced in this way was said, rather delicately, to have been "privately published." Now, the derogatory term "vanity press" is applied to a company that issues books paid for by their authors. The individual to whom the on-screen host of Prepare to Publish! refers as a "publisher" might be better characterized as a sales representative for a manufacturing company. The product being sold is the company's bookmanufacturing service, and the customer is the author, who will pay a substantial sum of money for that service. The viewer should not assume that the publishing industry as a whole, or even the scholarly branch of that industry, operates in the fashion depicted in the tape (although, unfortunately, the demand for "subsidies" from scholarly presses is on the rise). Generally, except for "self-publication," it is not as easy to get a book published as Prepare to Publish! makes it appear. Prepare to Publish! is a good, if brief, introduction to privately publishing a book. The tape would be an appropriate acquisition for a circulating library that lends video tapes. Anyone interested in viewing it should first check out the possibilities of obtaining it through a library before considering buying the tape. When video tapes of recent, Academy Award-winning motion pictures can be purchased for as little as $19.95, the price tag of $49.95 for Prepare to Publish! seems excessive for what the tape has to offer. Jeffrey L. Scheib Book Reviews 1 51 Beginning Your Family History in Great Britain, 4th ed. By George Pelting. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, 1989. 64 pp., paperback. $7.50. The Federation of Family History Societies (England) has in recent years embarked on a worthy and useful publication program. Now the Genealogical Publishing Company has decided to make many of these publications available to the American genealogical community. This is indeed a worthwhile decision. This book, while modest in size, packs an extraordinary amount of information. It should be remembered that it was written primarily with the British reader in mind. An important caveat for American users is that they carefully check the availability of some kinds of records (parish registers, bishops' transcripts, civil registration, census returns) in the United States through the Branch Library System of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. One of the admirable strengths of this book is its frank discussion of fees at various repositories. These have increased sharply in recent years, and their magnitude may surprise the first-time visitor to English repositories. This is a book to be thoroughly digested before departure and carried with you in your travels. Again the cautionary note: Be sure the record is not available in the United States. Save your time abroad for what is available only in the original repositories. This book is excellent value for the money. Louis S. Marks The Ancestors and Descendants of Jan Lucken. By Jill J. Hurd, 507 Marcelle Drive, Ft. Wayne, Ind. 46845. 612 pp., indexed, hardbound. $37.50 plus $2.50 postage. Jan Lucken was one of the original twelve emigrants from Krefeld in the Rhineland who became the founders of Germantown, now part of Philadelphia, in 1683. Ms. Hurd has based this compilation primarily on the records of Herman Tyson Lukens, a history professor, who spent over 25 years collecting Lukens data. His work was never published, but is in the collections of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. As she points out, all of his data was not documented, and the information countained in this book should only serve as a research tool or starting point. The author has limited the book to the male descendants, although some information on female lines is included. The Herman 152 The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine Tyson Lukens collection at GSP does contain information on the female lines. This book has information on Jan Lucken's property, as well as copies of some primary documents, such as Bible and probate records, of this family. The catalog numbers of the Herman Tyson Lukens collection are given, as are lists of Lukens land deeds in Philadelphia and Montgomery County which include the deed book and page number, as well as the names of grantees and grantors. Ms. Hurd is to be commended for bringing this difficult to research collection into a more useable form. Jane Adams Clarke