The following is an announcement from Arphax Publishing that was issued on the opening morning of the National Genealogical Society's annual conference:
June 6, 2006, Chicago, IL.
Arphax Publishing Co., the Norman, Oklahoma-based publisher of the critically-acclaimed Family Maps series of Federal Land Patent books by Gregory A. Boyd, is present in force at this year’s National Genealogical Society’s annual Conference in the States, held in Chicago from June 7 to June 10. In concert with the company’s support of and presence at our nation’s finest of annual genealogical events, the publisher wishes to make the following six major announcements.
ARPHAX PUBLISHING’S SIX BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS
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1. Deluxe Editions for All States.
2. First Ohio Book published.
3. First Florida Books (2) published.
4. First Deluxe Editions for Alabama and Michigan.
5. New Illinois Books: More Patents to Map, thanks to the Illinois State Archives
6. Chicago’s Original Land-owners Mapped!+ The Ten New Books Being Released TODAY!
Will you be at NGS in Chicago? We hope so.
Please pay us a visit at booths: 100,102,106,& 108
=================================================================SIX BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS
No one works harder to bring historians and genealogists such an immense collection of new and unique research tools covering such a vast portion of this great country (and does it this quickly). We have released 138 critically-acclaimed books (for 138 counties and parishes) in this, our first publishing year, and we are just getting started. What's more, today is our biggest day yet, with two states receiving their first books and nine states’ books being vastly improved. We are determined to show Americans from whom and whence they came, and are loving the opportunity being given us to do just that. Read on to learn more about today’s exciting announcements and of the TEN NEW BOOKS being released today.
1. Deluxe Editions for All States!
From this date forward all new books in the Family Maps series will be 'Deluxe Editions.' Since last June, we have published original land-owner maps for 138 counties in 14 states. Until now, eight of those states' books, though they revealed much about frontier families and their relationships, did not contain road or geographical feature maps. That all changes, now! We have acquired all the data necessary in order to create Deluxe Editions for all the public land states. So, all future titles in the Family Maps series for Alabama, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Wisconsin, will be Deluxe Editions. To see what that entails, please see our ‘Samples’ page at www.arphax.com/samples.html. Deluxe Edition chapter-samples are available along the left side of the page. To celebrate this change in our book-line, today, four states will receive their first Deluxe Editions: two states are receiving their first books ever and two are receiving Deluxe Editions in lieu of their previous ‘Homesteads’ editions.2. First Ohio Book published.
Family Maps of Monroe County, Ohio is hitting the streets today and the announcement of this first Ohio book represents an monumental amount of hard work on the part of Greg Boyd, the author and creator of the Family Maps series. Researchers in the Buckeye state know often geographical publishers overlook their fine state, due to the multiple systems used in conducting Ohio’s original surveys. Mr. Greg Boyd has unraveled this mystery and we will now be bringing you Ohio books for most of the counties for which the Bureau of Land Management has indexed their original Ohio records. Stay tuned!3. First Florida Books (2) published.
Family Maps books are being released today for Suwannee County and Holmes County, Florida. Many researchers trace “traditional” migrations from Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, on to points west, and often skip Florida in their efforts moving directly into Alabama, Tennessee, or Kentucky, among others. This is often a mistake and we are proud to finally be able to bring books for one of the often overlooked jewels for research in the Southeast U.S.: the Sunshine State. Welcome, Florida, to the Family Maps series.4. First Deluxe Editions for Alabama and Michigan.
Since June of last year, Mr. Boyd has created several books for Alabama and Michigan. And though these are extremely useful new tools, they were among the more abbreviated versions in our series (Homesteads editions). That changes today, with the publication of Family Maps of Baldwin County, Alabama and Family Maps of Washtenaw County, Michigan. Both are Deluxe Editions and both are fine volumes, rich with geographical features and roads. The Baldwin County book is our BIGGEST volume so far (over 600 pages).5. New Illinois Books: More Patents to Map, thanks to the Illinois State Archives
Greg Boyd recently received permission from the Illinois State Archives to use the contents of its database of Land Patents in the creation of his Family Maps series. Today, the first four books displaying maps of land-owners from this database are being released in book form: for Cook, Grundy, Sangamon, and Williamson counties.This represents a significant increase in value to the Illinois books in this series, and here are a couple of reasons why
a. The Illinois State Archives database contains well over 40% more land-owner records for the state of Illinois than the current database of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. What that means to you as a researcher is that there will often be 20% to 40% more people who can be placed in Illinois counties through these records, than was possible before.
b. The Archives database lists extra information not available though the federal database. The most important of these is the residence of the purchaser, when mentioned within the land-patent itself. You will be delighted to see how quickly you can identify migrants from Massachusetts, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, as well as from other counties within the state. This feature is a marvelous addition to our Illinois books.
6. Chicago’s Original Land-owners Mapped!
In keeping with the above announcement regarding the improvement of our Illinois books, and in tandem with our presence at the National Genealogical Society’s Conference in the States in Chicago, Arphax Publishing is proud to announce the publication of Family Maps of Cook County, Illinois. Within the pages of this 512 page book, you will find over 2600 surnames represented among the nearly 7000 parcels of land mapped within it. This is an exciting book, filled with thousands of Cook Counties first-families who received their land under the federal system.Those are the SIX main bits of exciting news that we have for you today. In the spirit of those announcments, we know offer up the fruit of all the labor described here. So without further adieu, here are . . .
The Ten New Books Being Released TODAY!
Family Maps of Baldwin County, Alabama, Deluxe Edition
Family Maps of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Deluxe Edition
Family Maps of Monroe County, Ohio, Deluxe Edition
Family Maps of Grundy County, Illinois, Deluxe Edition
Family Maps of Sangamon County, Illinois, Deluxe Edition
Family Maps of Williamson County, Illinois, Deluxe Edition
Family Maps of Cook County, Illinios, Deluxe Edition
Family Maps of Washington County, Missouri, Deluxe Edition
Family Maps of Holmes County, Florida, Deluxe Edition
Family Maps of Suwannee County, Florida, Deluxe EditionLinks to information on all our books can be found at www.arphax.com
