4 Ways to Make Genealogy Part of Your Kindle Library

I recently purchased an Amazon Kindle e-reader.  I've used the Kindle app on my phone and computer but I'm new to the Kindle e-reader and wondered how I might incorporate my genealogy research into my Kindle Library. These are the four ways I have found to do that so far. 

1. Public libraries may offer ebooks for checkout through an app such as Hoopla or Libby  Sometimes there are genealogical or historical ebooks available to borrow which allow reading via Kindle. Take advantage of this if your local library offers one of these services.
2. The ability to take notes and highlight as you read a book is a great feature.  The notes are saved to your device even if you remove the book.  You may also email these notes to the email address associated with your Kindle.
3. The most obvious way is by purchasing ebooks on the topic of genealogy.
4. Files or documents can be sent to the Kindle. This can be accomplished in several ways:  

• Using a USB Cable and file explorer on your computer to drag and drop files
• Emailing the files to your Kindle's email address(found on the device under all settings  or at your Amazon account under device management--Preferences and Personal Documents) There are size and document type restrictions   
• Using Send To Kindle from your account or the app 
  From the Send To Kindle page, the current size limit is 200 MB
  Supported File Types: PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT, RTF, HTM/HTML, EPUB, and most image file types.  

Type of documents I send to my Kindle

• Genealogical Course Syllabi
• Family Tree Reports
• Ongoing Research Reports
• Genealogy Quarterlies
• Articles I've Written About My Research
• Timelines

ProQuest Civil War Era Collection

If you have family who fought in the Civil War, don't overlook the ProQuest Civil War Era Collection. One of the items in it that I noticed was in the Pamphlets on the Civil War, 1861-1865 collection and titled

Roll of honor (no. xvii), names of soldiers who died in defence of the American Union, interred in the national and public cemeteries in Kentucky, and at New Albany, Jeffersonville, and Madison, Indiana, Lawton, (Miller), and Andersonville, Georgia, (supplementary)

It is a rather large listing(516 pages) and is just one of the many items available to search within this collection. Check with your library and see if they have ProQuest available. Also remember that your public library isn't the only library available though it is one you should fully support. Colleges and Universities often times have great Family History Collections.

Jane B Campbell's unsold estate inventory--1825 Williamson Co. Tennessee

I've been working on my Ogilvie family a bit today, more specifically the family of William Ogilvie(1728-1813) and Mary Harris(1732-1807) who lived in College Grove, TN during the early 1800s.  William and Mary are my 5th Great Grandparents. While reading thru the Ogilvie wills I noticed an inventory listing for a Jane Campbell from Williamson Co. TN just below part of the probate of Richard Ogilvie.  I thought this was very interesting and have listed some of the items below.  As far as I know she is a part of my family.


Pg 33 Williamson Co Tn Will book July Term 1825   A list of articles belonging to the estate of Jane B Campbell deceased  remaining unsold which according to law will be kept for the use of her children.

Map of United State with a book
Map of the World with a book
Large Family Bible
Guthrie's Geography(2 Vol)
Scott's Family Bible
Sheriden's Dictionary(2 Vol)
Plowden's History of Ireland(5 Vol)
Swifts Works(2 Vol)
Burns Works(4 Vol)
Tattler(4 vol)
Life  of Bonapart(3 vol--1 vol missing)
Rush Works (2 Vol)
Lock's Essay(2 Vol)
Brown's History of Missions(2 Vol)
Curran's speeches(2 Vol)
Angustil's Universal history(9 vol)
Carr's sermons(2 Vol)
Emmon's sermons
Campbell's Lectures
Don Quizote (4 vol)
Charlemagne (2 Vol)
Bailey's Dictionary
Henry's Dialogues(2 Vol)
Broken set of Shakespeare(5 Vol)
Confession of Faith
Jackson's Book keeping
Court of St. Cloud
Moses' Gazetteer
Freeman's Poems(2 Vol)
Bucks Miscellany
Breckenridge Insurrection
History of Virginia
Stodert on Judgement
Mrs. Graham's works
Reliques of Burns
Franklin's works
January Letters
Rainey's poems
Baxter on the Soul
Hervey's Meditations
Lee's Memoirs
Buck's Expositor
Henderson's sermons

also listed were 6 beds, bedroom furniture, kitchenware(pots pans and utensils as well as dishes) and of course.....bookcases.

Who are you and how do you know my Grandmother? --Part 2

Questions about Flora's letter and her connection to my family

What year was the letter written?
Flora's daughter was married  to her first husband in 1943.  The daughter would have been divorced some time prior to 1956 as that is when her ex husband marries again.  This leads me to believe that the letter was written some time between 1943-1956.  I searched for a source for divorce records for area of Akron, Summit Co Ohio, USA but didn't find one available on-line.  So I did what I would have done if I were "on the ground" in that area.  I went to their library by way of the website.  As it happens the Akron-Summit Co. Library has done a wonderful job of getting many of the City Directories on-line.  One of the most impressive ones I have seen.  I now totally get the importance of City Directories and how they contain a vast amount of information.

By checking the Directories for the years from 1940 to 1956 I was able to get an idea of the time period in which it was written.  The 1956-57 Directory shows Flora's Son-In-Law and her Daughter living apart from each other.  They were together in the 1954-1955 listing so I think it's safe to say that the letter was written some time in the period from the publication of the 1954 and the 1956.  Flora's son-in-law marries again in June of 1956 so it may be closer to 1954 when they separated and divorced.


Where is their oldest son in 1940 was he already in the Navy?  If so he should be enumerated at the location which he is stationed.

 326. Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines.-Enumerate soldiers, sailors, and marines in the Army or Navy of the United States as residents of the place where they usually sleep in the area where they are stationed. If, therefore, any household in your district reports that one of its members is a soldier, sailor, or marine stationed elsewhere, do not report him as a member of that household. 

Full instructions for 1940 Census are located HERE  (pdf file)


I'm continuing to search for the oldest son in the 1940 Census.  I was able to request a copy of his obit and found that he was living with his sister in 1974 when he passed away.   Oddly it didn't mention the younger brother who I had found through public records and marriage records living in Dade Co FL.  He would pass 6 years after his brother's passing.

As I was searching the directory I also came across some of my Dad's paternal cousins who had moved north from Tennessee to Akron Ohio for work.  Because they had lived in Indiana a good bit of time when I knew them,  I'd forgotten about their Akron Ohio connection.  So I've sent a message to see if any of them know who Flora might be and her connection.

At this point I still kind of think the connection is a chance meeting when my Grandmother went to see her son who was at the naval hospital in the Washington DC area.  Add to this too that I also noticed that Flora's Social Security Application was completed in Washington DC. The years 1952-1954 are listed in parenthesis in the place where the application year is usually located.  These years differ from the time period that my Grandmother would have been there.  I wonder if the older son was living in Washington from 1940-1954.  By the time she wrote the letter in the card he would have been in the hospital in Chillicothe Ohio.

Much more information and research is needed.  A lot of clues but no clear answers yet.