The Penny Pincher's Guide to Genealogy Pt 4

by Janet Tabares

Online Commercial Ventures – Everton Publishers, Inc. - How they can help you find cousins!

  The Everton Publishers, Inc. is the company that produces “Everton’s Genealogical Helper Magazine” and “The Handybook for Genealogists”.  They have been in the business since 1947; long before computers entered the scene as a major tool for record keeping.  In fact, when I started doing research, the common method was using legal paper size pedigree charts and family group sheets with a landscape page layout.  It was a tedious way to record your ancestors, but at the time, it was the only way.  That was back in 1973.  The “home” computer as a common tool was still a dream

I first started reading Everton’s in 1992 when a friend showed me a copy.  I devoured the material and wanted more.  I hand wrote everything that I found of value from her copy, and started digging in the library for older copies.  I compared dates and names from my research with the names I found in the magazine and started writing letters to folks that had sent in queries, and had contributed to the Computerized Root Cellar section.  The yearly subscription to the magazine is $24.00.  Most libraries with a Genealogy section will subscribe to this magazine.  You may not be able to check the magazine out of the library, but you can peruse it for information. 

These are some of the things that a researcher should take a look at in Everton’s Genealogical Helper Magazine:

Computerized Root Cellar – This is a list of names/dates/places that individuals submit to the magazine.  Some want help in regard to that particular ancestor, others have information and are willing to share it.

It costs money to submit an ancestor, so if an ancestor is pretty elusive, it might be worth your while to use this media to query the non-computer oriented genealogy folk.  This list is also part of Everton’s website, so you might get doubly lucky.  The URL to Everton’s website is http://www.everton.com/

Surname Index – This is part of the indexing that this magazine if so famous for.  In the days when many did not index anything, it is so nice to have a reference that you don’t have to labor over while looking for a particular surname.  Check the index, and turn right to it! 

Missing Folk Finder – this section is for trying to find missing present day relatives.  I used this to try to find my husband’s father’s family.  I didn’t find them through this directly, but received many letters of encouragement, and some very helpful hints on how to try to find him through the military and social security.  I finally did find the family a year to the week after the father had died.  We correspond with his father’s aunt periodically.  The family didn’t even know that my husband existed.  His father had kept that marriage a secret. 

Another success story while using Everton’s was I found my grandmother’s fourth cousin.  I saw in the Computerized Root Cellar a listing for DOUTT, REUBEN.  Well that was a name that I had encountered while searching for this particular line, and was really excited that someone else might be searching my family.  I wrote to the lady – Frances DOUTT SMITH, and she wrote back, telling all kinds of things about that line.  In fact, she said that if I’d like, she’s send me her DOUTT DIALOGS newsletter.  She said that she’d send it for free, as she is doing it for the fun and love of it.  I’ve been getting it ever since, and have sent some things for her to put in it as well.  You just never know, you might find family that you never knew you had!

Everton’s also publishes the Family Associations and Family Periodicals Directory.  This is another tool for contacting those searching the same surnames that you are.  Write to them.  You may be surprised. 

Everton’s Website is a pay site.  The annual subscription is $36.95.  There are other subscription prices as well.  You can get one week for $9.95.  Computerized Root Cellar & Internet Family File can be searched for free.  Computerized Root Cellar has about one million names.  The Internet Family File has over five million names between the three files it is split into.  Everton’s invites everyone to submit a gedcom to the file.

I am not in any way affiliated with the magazine, and have only subscribed once.  The magazine is a very thick one that is produced quarterly.  It is worth the money if you have it to spare!