Everyone loves to read about someone in their tree who is famous for something.  Using Google Books, you may find many digitized copies of “Who’s who of …” with the surname in question listed.

The content of each entry varies based on the topic of the Who’s Who issue.  It may be an Who’s Who in Germany, or Who’s Who in New York (city and state).  In the 1922  issue of Who’s Who in Engineering, I was able to confirm the mother’s surname of a distant cousin.  Not only do I now know the entire work history of this individual, I know what clubs he belonged to, every school he ever attended, and where he lived.  The listing of abbreviations at the beginning of the book has also helped deal with those abbreviations dealing with the engineering industry.  As we all know, abbreviations for one industry means something different than those of another industry.

For more information on the various biographies available, check Biographical Dictionaries and Related Works by Robert B. Slocum.