ROOTS & BRANCHES

You’re just going to have to pardon the “humble brag,” or at least I hope you will.

That’s because it turns out my fourth commercially published book, The Family Tree Historical Atlas of Germany, is proving to be quite a hit.

My first book, The Family Tree German Genealogy Guide, came about because former Family Tree Magazine editor Allison Stacey Dolan was restarting the book line for her company and I was her go-to guy for German genealogy.

Dolan knew her German stuff, too, and I was handed a chapter outline that pretty much didn’t need much other than me to start writing (That book was published in 2014 and I have seen the glow of a higher profile from being an “author”).

“GGG,” as we call it in shorthand, sold decently well, which led to talk of a companion book strictly about websites for German genealogy.

Dolan’s book line at the time had some pocketbooks, which is what I thought such a subject was worth. But in here wisdom, Dolan steered me towards producing what became Trace Your German Roots Online (“TYGRO”) and put me in the charge of gifted editor Andrew Koch.

TYGRO also sold well, which left me itching to write a book on historical newspapers, a way to bring my professional life—20 years as a newspaper copy editor and obituary paginator—around full circle.

It took some convincing but Dolan and Koch greenlighted The Family Tree Historical Newspapers Guide, which debuted in 2018. While I still believe the book is vital to anyone doing even half-serious genealogy … frankly, sales have been disappointing.

Even before those sales results began to filter in, however, I pitched another idea to Dolan and Koch—for me to curate maps and write text for an atlas of historical maps of German-speaking lands, which I felt would be a good companion for other atlases the publisher had produced of Europe, American states and major U.S. cities.

They were initially a little skeptical (“Are there enough maps for an entire atlas just on Germany?”) but I had done my homework. My girlfriend Terri Bridgwater made it her mission to track down the out-of-copyright 1905 Putzgers Historischer Schul-Atlas and I worked a deal with John Palmer, the map vendor who trades as Michiana. My detailed pitch included a page-by-page outline of what the atlas would include.

I received my advance copy of The Family Tree Historical Atlas of Germany less than two months ago and have taken that lone book to four conferences to sell preordered copies (the first copies are due at the publisher shortly).

It’s hard to describe the joy at observing so many people admire a book you’ve produced.

Whether it’s seeing a family’s hometown on one particular map or seeing the overview of the crazy-quilt of medieval German states or just admiring the clarity of the maps—the book sells itself!

The atlas is available from Family Tree Books at the URL, https://www.familytreemagazine.com/store/historical-atlas-of-germany