Littleton Books

I was researching the family of Richard S. Little, the founder of Littleton. I am not related to Richard, but I enjoy researching interesting historical figures in addition to my own family. One of Richard’s grandsons, John Harwood Little, was listed in the 1930 US Census living in Laramie, Wyoming. His household consisted of himself [...]

Fifty percent of all your ancestors were women. Women are often called the “hidden half” of your family history because there are legal and cultural problems that have made them more difficult to locate. Many pedigree charts are full of mothers that are listed by their first name only. The greatest difficulty is that women [...]

Have you discovered from where your surname originates? Surname origins can give you a clue to the distant past and an insight into your family’s medieval roots. You may learn the geographic region from which your family hails, the trade or profession your ancestors practiced, or even something about their physical appearance or characteristics. Sometimes, [...]

Obituaries can be very useful to a family historian or genealogist. In essence, they are a miniature biography of a person. They usually list all or most of the important events and significant relationships in a person’s life. The first step in mining the genealogical treasures from obituaries is locating the obituary. Not everyone has [...]

A four-person genealogy team from Ancestry.com released their findings on July 30, 2012 that President Obama is descended from the first African slave in colonial America. Ancestry.com sought independent confirmation of their conclusions from Elizabeth Shown Mills, who specializes in Southern ancestry, and Johni Cerny, an expert in African-American genealogy. While the theory is not [...]

It is becoming easier to find the sources you need locally for your research. A few clicks on Amazon.com, or LittletonBooks.com, will bring any popular genealogy book you need to your doorstep in a couple of days. (Or download it instantly to your Kindle or other device, free Kindle apps available.) For more obscure titles, [...]

At times, it seems that certain ancestors hide from you. They are the ones that the census enumerator  always misses or they suddenly appear in a county where no one of that same surname lives and there are no records that anyone with that surname ever existed. You wonder if they were aliens dropped off [...]

People sometimes question whether genealogy should be a pursuit for someone who is attempting to lead a life pleasing to God. It is pointed out that the apostle Paul took a dim view of genealogy and admonished us to abandon such pursuits. He said in his letter to his protégé, Timothy, “nor give heed to [...]