Book review by Vi Kruckenberg Schielke, Beulah, North Dakota

Winistorfer, Jo Ann B. and Cathy A. Langemo. Tracing your Dakota Roots: A Guide to Genealogical Research in the Dakotas. Mandan, North Dakota: North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives, 1999.

Vi Kruckenberg Schielke is a life member of Germans from Russia Heritage Society and has served on the GRHS Board of Directors for nine years in the past, and has continued to serve on their various committees. She also is co-author of the Mercer County Cemetery Index published in 1990. Vi is a self-taught family genealogist and has contributed to many published articles and family history books.

After researching my German-Russian roots for the past 37 years doing everything the hard way. Learning as I went along. Now there is a book covering it all. This book, Tracing Your Dakota Roots; covers not only your Dakota roots but a wealth of information.

Every ethnic group living in the Dakota's is covered including Native American's, which has been a hard subject to research. The Dakota's is truly a mosaic of nationalities including; Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Swedish, Germans, Germans from Russia, Russians, Ukrainians, Polish, Jewish, Bohemian, Czech, British Isles, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, French, Syrian-Lebanese, Greece, Swiss, Belgians, Italians, and other groups.

Tracing Your Dakota Roots is not just for the Dakotas as it covers the basics in doing any family history. The novice will learn the easy way to do research and there is information for those who have done research for years. The book also covers LDS centers in the Dakota with their locations and hours. The needed forms for both states for vital records with prices is included as are forms and maps used for past censuses.

As this is the computer age, genealogy websites is a subject well covered. As are family reunions, personal interviews, heraldry, adoptions, orphan trains, various religions, maps, immigration, and military records. The lists of information in this book are endless. A well researched book and presented to appeal to the young and old.