This information is being posted here
because questions have been asked
about the advertisements many people in the United States have received
concerning this book. I found a web page on the Internet for Halbert's,
but I'm not going to post it here because I don't want to encourage
anyone
to throw away their money. If you want you can search for "Halbert's
World
Book" and see their pages.
I
do not have any specific person I can refer you
to about Halbert's World Book of Behnes (or any other surname). I
belong
to several genealogy e-mail groups and have read messages on them
indicating
that Halbert's letter may be misleading about how much information
about
a specific surname the book contains. I certainly do not want to be
sued
for slander; however, I can give you this personal review of the copy
that
I have in hand (yes, I fell for it too, and was disappointed): The
first
page of this book says, quote:
"Copyright
MCMXCIII by Halbert's Family
Heritage. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form
without
permission in writing from the publisher. This publication is not
connected
to any particular Behne family and represents a compilation of public
information.
Printed in U.S.A."
Chapter 1 is
about the great migrations of man.
There
is no mention of Behnes in this chapter.
Chapter 2 is
how names originated and what the
Behne
Name Means. Of the 10 pages, 2 paragraphs do relate to the surname
Behne.
Chapter 3 is
about how early coats of arms were
granted.
It does include a Behne Coat of Arms (not in color).
Chapter 4 is
How to Discover Your Ancestors.
There is
no mention of Behne.
Chapter 5 is
the Behne Registry which does list
Behne
addresses...some of my family is included...some is not.
There
is a chart indicating how many Behnes are
residing in areas of "Europe, North America, Australasia, and Africa".
I question the accuracy of this chart, since they did not pick up all
the
members of my Behne family, which were readily available in the phone
book
at that time. The maps contained in my copy do not relate to the Behnes. Russ, you are welcome to publish
the above on the website. It may not be a bad deal for people who have
some extra money and don't expect too much about Behnes in the book. I
believe they did send me information about how I could receive a copy
of
the Behne Coat of Arms in color.
Sharon Behne
One thing I should mention about that
coat of arms; Halbert's website
says that if your family doesn't have a coat of arms they'll most
happily
"create one for you". It makes me wonder how much of their books
content is made up.
