Marsha Hoffman RisingThe Family Tree Problem Solver: Tried-and-True Tactics for Tracing Elusive Ancestors

Offers techniques that are sound and proven. Helps even experienced genealogists avoid pitfalls. Offers new (to me) ways of researching. This one's a keeper!

For me, this book deserves 10 Stars and I can't recommend it enough! Whether you are new to family research, like me, or have been involved in tracing your tree for years, you will find some something of value to push through any blocks you may have encountered. I've only been researching my family for about 3 months now, so it's all new information to me and after exhausting every avenue I could think of, Ms. Rising's book helped me to find completely new leads I wouldn't have thought to explore.There is a branch of my family that has told a very romantic family story for generations, involving my 3x great grandparents' lives in a volatile area in Southwest Missouri during the Civil War. I love family lore, but I wanted to find the documentation that would either support the stories, or clarify the actual events as they truly occurred because the truth means more to me than stories that can and DO get embellished over the years. I had many challenges to overcome (courthouse burned TWICE, leaving practically zero trace of them), and this book has helped me enormously in looking at the bigger picture of not just names and dates, but the people who lived lives as we do today, as members of a family and a community, which can open floodgates of information to explore where previously there was only a brick wall. As a result of following Ms. Rising's tactics I have found documented facts that I wouldn't have found otherwise and the picture that's forming is far more intriguing than the family lore!Whether your challenge is, like mine, no county records, or family from the difficult years prior to the 1850 Federal Census, or a family with a dozen men named John, this book can help you navigate the unknowns. There are no magic answers, of course, and I have several ancestors I doubt I'll ever get to the bottom of, but this book has helped me tremendously in knowing I have uncovered every crumb trail my ancestor may have left behind. And in the case of my burned courthouse family, I have found a much deeper story than I think I would've found had those county records been readily available because being new to family research, I probably wouldn't have thought to dig even deeper or wider into their community to find the nuggets I have found, including the documentation to support them! Highly recommended!

This was one of the first substantial genealogy guides I read when I was trying to take my genealogy skills to the next level with formal education. I learned a ton of good stuff from it that I did not learn just by doing genealogy. Sometimes you really need guides, etc, to open your eyes to new methods to solve problems. I recommend it.

I've been tracing family for almost twenty years, and have hit some brick walls along the way. While this book hasn't solved them all yet, it has given me many ideas for new approaches. This book is full of tips and tricks, and information that I never knew about using records but now know to look for. I have started a second reading of the book. My only criticism is that the font size for the actual book is a bit small for my old eyes, but I purchased the kindle edition also and was able to read it easily on my computer and use the highlighting feature extensively. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in conducting serious genealogical research.

Now that I'm finally reading this book, I wish I had read it a lot earlier in my search for relatives. A lot of the hints and advice I have already figured out by trial and error. The Problem Solver is an excellent book in my opinion and I would recommend it to anyone who is doing their family tree and having difficulty finding information. I would have saved myself a lot of time, effort and paper by having this information at an earlier date. Better late than never I always say.

I do a lot of genealogy. I have a few “brick wall ancestors” and wanted ideas to get my research moving forward. I have only thumbed through the book so far but already have a few ideas to try.

I bought this book because it was highly recommended in a webinar presentation I heard. The speaker said it was her "go to" book for all sorts of challenges. After reading the book, I can see why she was so impressed. It is not just a collection of bits and pieces of information, but is organized cohesively so that the whole process makes sense . I have already applied some of the ideas in this book, but more importantly, I've reorganized my limited skills in researching, so that I know what I need to look for next.

This book is very helpful. I've been doing genealogy searches/research for a number of years. This book offers many helpful ways to refine efforts to find and to those "hidden" and lost ancestors.

There was nothing in the book description on Amazon to indicate the almost exclusive orientation of this book to USA records. Very useful if that is your area of interest but disappointing if your research is elsewhere.

Good book but only for US research

There are some useful segments in this book but I feel it is primarily targeted at family history researchers with American connections.It looks well presented with plenty of images to help with research.Not suited for me (I’m Australia based with no USA ancestors).Star rating given on general book layout and presentation.

Bon format !!

Very helpful