Tracing Your Ancestors
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Tracing Your Prisoner of War Ancestors
The First World War
by Sarah Paterson
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
The experience of civilian internees and British prisoners of war in German and Turkish hands during the First World War is one of the least well-known and least researched aspects of the history of the conflict. The same applies to prisoners of war and internees held in the UK. Yet, as Sarah Paterson shows in this authoritative handbook, a wide-range of detailed and revealing information is available if you know where to look for it.
Briefly she outlines the course of the campaigns in which British servicemen were captured, and she describes how they were treated and the conditions they endured. She locates the camps they were taken to and explains how they were run. She also shows how this emotive and neglected subject can be researched - how archives and records can be used to track down individual prisoners and uncover something of the lives they led in captivity.
Her work will be an essential introduction for readers who are keen to get an insight into the experience of a POW or an internee during the First World War, and it will be an invaluable guide for anyone who is trying to trace an ancestor who was captured.
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Tracing Your Ancestors Through Death Records
A Guide for Family Historians
by Celia Heritage
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Of all family history sources, death records are probably the least used by researchers. They are, however, frequently the most revealing of records, giving a far greater insight into our ancestors' lives and personalities than those records created during their lifetime.
Celia Heritage leads readers through the various types of death records, showing how they can be found, read and interpreted and how to glean as much information as possible from them. In many cases, they can be used as a starting point for developing your family history research into other equally rewarding areas.
This highly readable handbook is packed with useful information and helpful research advice. In addition, a thought-provoking final chapter looks into the repercussions of death its effects on the surviving members of the family and the fact that a premature death could sometimes affect the family for generations to come.
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Tracing Your Birmingham Ancestors
A Guide for Family and Local Historians
by Michael Sharpe
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Birmingham, the cradle of the industrial revolution and the world's first manufacturing town, is an important focus for many family historians who will find that their trail leads through it. Rural migrants, Quakers, Jews, Irish, Italians, and more recently people from the Caribbean, South-Asia and China have all made Birmingham their home. This vibrant history is reflected in the city's rich collections of records, and Michael Sharpe's handbook is the ideal guide to them. He introduces readers to the wealth of information available, providing an essential guide for anyone researching the history of the city or the life of an individual ancestor. His work addresses novices and experienced researchers alike and offers a compendium of sources from legal and ecclesiastical archives, to the records of local government, employers, institutions, clubs, societies and schools. Accessible, informative and extensively referenced, it is the perfect companion for research in Britain's second city.
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Tracing Your Great War Ancestors: Gallipoli
A Guide for Family Historians
by Simon Fowler
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Do you have an ancestor who served in the Gallipoli campaign in the First World War? Perhaps you have thought of visiting the battlefields in Turkey and the monuments that commemorate them, and want to find out exactly where and when your ancestor served and what part he played in the landings and the fighting that followed? This practical and informative handbook is an ideal guide to the struggle for the Gallipoli peninsula and the stories of the men who took part in it. Simon Fowler outlines the course of the campaign and introduces the many historical resources that you can use to explore the history for yourself. He identifies the key sources for family historians, including The National Archives in Britain, the Australian War Memorial, and other sources in Australia and New Zealand and the many websites that researchers can turn to, and he gives advice on the literature, archives, museums and monuments that may help you to gain an insight into your ancestor's story.
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Tracing Your Docker Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Alex Ombler
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Alex Ombler's handbook is the first practical guide for family historians who wish to find out about family members who worked in British docks. In a series of concise, informative chapters he takes readers through the history of British ports and identifies research methods and materials – both local and national – through which they can discover the lives and experiences of the people who worked in them.
Many of us have ancestors who were dock laborers – in 1921 there were around 125,000 dockers across a large number of British ports – and the organizational history of the dock labor force is extremely complex. As a result, the social and family lives of dockers and their communities can be difficult to research, and that is why this book is so useful.
The history of the docks is covered as is the daily life of the dockers, and sections trace the development of trade unions, the experience of dock workers during the world wars and the decline of the docks in recent times. Dockland artifacts and communities are described, and there is a comprehensive directory of regional and national records.
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Tracing Your Roman Catholic Ancestors
A Guide for Family and Local Historians
by Stuart A. Raymond
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Tracing Your Roman Catholic Ancestors is the ideal handbook for readers and researchers who are keen to find out about their Roman Catholic ancestors and for anyone who wants an introduction to Roman Catholic history in general. Stuart Raymond provides a brief historical account covering the Roman Catholics from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries, then goes on to identify the available sources, explaining their strengths and weaknesses. His accessible and authoritative book will be an essential source of insight and reference for anyone who is starting to explore this fascinating subject. The Catholic church's structure is described, as are the various repositories where relevant archives and books can be found. Chapters are devoted to specific sources and what they can reveal about the church and those who were members of it. Much information concerning Catholicism is to be found in the records of repression. The records of Quarter Sessions and the Anglican ecclesiastical courts, together with central government sources, tell us much about our Roman Catholic ancestors, and are fully described. So are the records of Roman Catholic baptisms, marriages and burials. Other Roman Catholic records, such as confirmation lists, are also covered, as are records relating to Roman Catholic clergy and religious orders. Stuart Raymond's handbook opens up the history of the Roman Catholic Church for researchers who want to gain an understanding of the religious lives of their ancestors and for those who have a wider interest in the history of religion.
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Tracing Your Oxfordshire Ancestors
A Guide for Family & Local Historians
by Nicola Lisle
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Oxfordshire has a proud history as an agricultural county, relying for centuries on the wool trade for its prosperity. It is also famous for the founding of Oxford University in the eleventh century and for the Morris Motors car factory established in Oxford in 1912. The county is richly endowed with churches, museums, stately homes, industrial heritage sites and other places of interest, all offering a fascinating insight into its past and its present.
In this informative and practical guide, Nicola Lisle explores Oxfordshire's diverse history, including its industries and occupations, education, religion, transport, law and order, health services, migration and immigration, leisure pursuits and the impact of both world wars. Each chapter includes details of relevant archives, libraries, online resources, further reading and places to visit, together with case studies and research tips. This is an essential handbook for anyone with an interest in Oxfordshire local and family history, and is suitable both for beginners and for more experienced researchers.
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Tracing Your Naval Ancestors
by Simon Fowler
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
This concise guide to naval history and naval records is essential reading and reference for anyone researching the fascinating story of Britains navy and the men and women who served in it. Whether you are interested in the career of an individual seaman, finding out about a medal winner or just want to know more about a particular ship, campaign or operation, this book will point you in the right direction. Simon Fowler assumes the reader has little prior knowledge of the navy and its history. His book shows you how to trace an officer, petty officer or rating from the seventeenth century up to the 1960s using records at the National Archives and elsewhere. The book also covers the specialist and auxiliary services associated with the navy among them the Royal Marines, the Fleet Air Arm, the naval dockyards, the WRNS and the Fleet Auxiliary. In each section he explains which records survive, where they can be found and how they can be used for research. He also recommends resources available online as well as books and memoirs. His handbook is a valuable research tool for anyone who is keen to find out about the career of an ancestor who served in the Royal Navy or was connected with it.
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Tracing Your Police Ancestors
by Stephen Wade
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Tracing Your Police Ancestors will help you locate and research officers who served in any of the police forces of England and Wales from the creation of the Metropolitan Police by Sir Robert Peel in 1829. Assuming that the reader has no prior knowledge of how or where to look for such information, Stephen Wade explains and describes the various archives and records and provides a discussion of other sources. Case studies are used to show how an individual officer’s career may be traced and understood from this research. He also explains the range of secondary sources open to the family or local historian, many of which offer a broader account of the social and cultural history of the British police forces.
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Tracing Your Tank Ancestors
by Janice Tait
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
If you want to find out about the career of a soldier who served in tanks, are researching medals awarded to a tank crew member or just want to know more about a particular regiment squadron or operation, this book will point you in the right direction.Assuming that the reader has little prior knowledge of the history of British armored forces, Janice Tait and David Fletcher trace their development from their formation during WW1, through WWII and on to their role as an essential part of today's British army. Most importantly, they demonstrate how you can explore this history for yourself. The authors describe the records that are available and show how they can help you to reconstruct the career of a soldier who served in tanks or was connected with them. They also describe the kind of work the soldiers did, the armored vehicles they worked with, and the men and women they served alongsideThis accessible, information-packed introduction to the history of British armored forces will be essential reading and reference for anyone who is researching this aspect of military history.
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Tracing Your Northern Ancestors
A Guide to the North East & Cumbria for the Family Historian
by Keith Gregson
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
The far north of England is a key site for family historians. Many researchers, seeking to trace their ancestry back through the generations, will find their trail leads to the north or through it. And yet, despite the burgeoning interest in genealogy and the importance of the region in so many life stories, no previous book has provided a guide to the documents and records that family historians can use in their search. In this accessible and informative introduction to the subject, Keith Gregson looks at the history and heritage of the region - of Northumberland, Tyneside, Durham, Wearside, Tees Valley and Cumbria - and gives a fascinating insight into the world in which our ancestors lived. He introduces the reader to the variety of records that are available for genealogical research, from legal and ecclesiastical archives, birth and death certificates to the records of local government, employers, institutions, clubs, societies and schools.
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Tracing Your Coalmining Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Brian Elliott
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
In the 1920s there were over a million coalminers working in over 3000 collieries across Great Britain, and the industry was one of the most important and powerful in British history. It dominated the lives of generations of individuals, their families and communities, and its legacy is still with us today many of us have a coalmining ancestor. Yet family historians often have problems in researching their mining forebears. Locating the relevant records, finding the sites of the pits, and understanding the work involved and its historical background can be perplexing. That is why Brian Elliott's concise, authoritative and practical handbook will be so useful, for it guides researchers through these obstacles and opens up the broad range of sources they can go to in order to get a vivid insight into the lives and experiences of coalminers in the past. His overview of the coalmining history and the case studies and research tips he provides will make his book rewarding reading for anyone looking for a general introduction to this major aspect of Britain's industrial heritage. His directory of regional and national sources and his commentary on them will make this guide an essential tool for family historians searching for an ancestor who worked in coalmining underground, on the pit top or just lived in a mining community.
As featured in Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine and the Barnsley Chronicle.
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Tracing Your Second World War Ancestors
by Phil Tomaselli
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
The Second World War was the defining conflict of the twentieth century and it is one of the most popular and fascinating areas for historical research and for family historians. More records than ever are available to researchers whose relatives served during the war. And this new book by Phil Tomaselli is the perfect guide to how to locate and understand these sources and get the most out of them. He explains how, and from where, service records can be obtained, using real examples showing what they look like and how to interpret them. He also examines records of the military units relatives might have served in so their careers can be followed in graphic detail. The three armed services are covered, along with the merchant navy, the Home Guard, civilian services, prisoners of war, gallantry and campaign medals, casualties, womens services and obscure wartime organizations. Also included are a glossary of service acronyms, information on useful websites, an introduction to the National Archives and details of other useful sources.
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Tracing Your Ancestors' Parish Records
A Guide for Family and Local Historians
by Stuart Raymond
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Parish records are essential sources for family and local historians, and Stuart Raymond's handbook is an invaluable guide to them. He explores and explains the fascinating and varied historical and personal information they contain. His is the first thoroughgoing survey of these resources to be published for over three decades. In a concise, easy-to-follow text he describes where these important records can be found and demonstrates how they can be used. Records relating to the poor laws, apprentices, the church, tithes, enclosures and charities are all covered. The emphasis throughout is on understanding their original purpose and on revealing how relevant they are for researchers today. Compelling insights into individual lives and communities in the past can be gleaned from them, and they are especially useful when they are combined with other major sources, such as the census.
Your Ancestors' Parish Records is an excellent introduction to this key area of family and local history research it is a book that all family and local historians should have on their shelf.
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Tracing Your Royal Marine Ancestors
Published in association with the Royal Marines Museum
by Richard Brooks
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Whether you are interested in the career of an individual Royal Marine or just want to know more about the part played by the Marines in a particular battle or campaign, this book will point you in the right direction. Assuming that the reader has no prior knowledge of the Royal Marines, their history or organization, Richard Brooks and Matthew Little explain which records survive, where they can be found and how they can help you in your research. They also describe in vivid detail the evolution of the Royal Marines, from the tentative beginnings of the service in the seventeenth century to their present position as a key part of the British armed forces.
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Tracing Your Army Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Simon Fowler
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Whether you are interested in the career of an individual officer, researching medals awarded to a soldier, or just want to know more about a particular battle or campaign, this book will point you in the right direction. Assuming the reader has no prior knowledge of the British Army, its history or organization, Simon Fowler explains what records survive, where they are to be found and how they can help you in your research. He shows how to make the best use of the increasing number of related resources to be found online, and he pays particular attention to explaining the records and the reasons behind their creation, as this information can be very important in understanding how these documents can help your research.
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Tracing Your Ancestors' Childhood
A Guide for Family Historians
by Sue Wilkes
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Every family historian has child ancestors, and childhood experiences and records are an essential aspect of research into a past life. That is why Sue Wilkes's detailed and accessible handbook is such a useful guide for anyone who is trying to find out about the early years of their forbears. In Tracing Your Ancestors' Childhood she explores the history of childhood and education and brings together information about relevant records and archives into one handy reference guide. She outlines ancestors' childhood experiences at home, school, work and in institutions, especially during Victorian times. In the opening chapter she reviews basic family history sources, then she discusses records of childhood in detail. Specialist archives, published sources, recommended reading and other resources and documents are covered. She focuses primarily on England and Wales and covers the years 1750—1950. The second part of her book is a directory of archives and specialist repositories. Databases of children's societies, useful genealogy websites, and places to visit which bring the social history of childhood to life are all included.
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Tracing Your Yorkshire Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Rachel Bellerby
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
If you want to find out about your Yorkshire ancestors, you can visit the many unusual and fascinating archives in England's largest county. As well as tracing when your ancestors were born, married and died, you can explore how they lived, how they spent their leisure time and what their home life was like. Rachel Bellerby's invaluable guide will introduce you to places that hold a wealth of information about Yorkshire's past, and the records you find in these archives will bring your research to life. Whatever you wouldlike to discover more about, from fairground travellers to Romany gypsies, from working deep underground in a mine to making a living from the North Sea, there is so much to learn. The many different archives that welcome family history researchers are explored here and explained. Often these archives are overlooked, yet they contain revealing information about the people who called Yorkshire their home. Dozens of places, from tiny museum archives to large research centres, are open for your research. Tracing your Yorkshire ancestors has never been more exciting.
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The Somme
A Guide for Family Historians
by Simon Fowler
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
If you want to find out about an ancestor who served on the Somme during the First World War during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 or at any time during the fighting in this sector of the Western Front this book is the ideal guide. It provides practical information and advice on how to conduct your research. It will help you to discover when and where your ancestors served and give you an insight into his experience of the war. It is also a fascinating introduction to researching the Great War as a whole.Simon Fowler outlines the course of the fighting on the Somme, introducing the many historical resources that you can use to explore the history for yourself. He identifies the key sources for family historians, including at The National Archives and Imperial War Museum and the many online sites that researchers can turn to. There is also advice on the literature, archives, museums and monuments that may help you to gain an insight into your ancestor's story.
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Tracing Your Ancestors from 1066 to 1837
by Dr. Jonathan Oates
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
The trail that an ancestor leaves through the Victorian period and the twentieth century is relatively easy to follow the records are plentiful, accessible and commonly used. But how do you go back further, into the centuries before the central registration of births, marriages and deaths was introduced in 1837, before the first detailed census records of 1841? How can you trace a family line back through the early modern period and perhaps into the Middle Ages? Jonathan Oatess clearly written new handbook gives you all the background knowledge you need in order to go into this engrossing area of family history research. He starts by describing the administrative, religious and social structures in the medieval and early modern period and shows how these relate to the family historian. Then in a sequence of accessible chapters he describes the variety of sources the researcher can turn to. Church and parish records, the records of the professions and the courts, manorial and property records, tax records, early censuses, lists of loyalty, militia lists, charity records all these can be consulted. He even includes a short guide to the best methods of reading medieval and early modern script.
Jonathan Oatess handbook is an essential introduction for anyone who is keen to take their family history research back into the more distant past.
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Tracing Your London Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Dr. Jonathan Oates
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
London is a key site for family historians. Many researchers, seeking to trace their ancestry back through the generations, will find their trail leads to London or through it. Yet, despite the burgeoning interest in genealogy and the importance of London in so many life stories, few previous books have explored the city’s history or provided guidance on the research resources family historians can use to discover the life of a London ancestor. This is the purpose of Jonathan Oates’ invaluable handbook. In a series of short, information-packed chapters he describes the principal record offices, archives, libraries and other sources researchers can go to, and shows how Londoners can be tracked through censuses, registers and directories over the last 500 years. Then he explores key aspects of London’s history from a family historian’s point of view. Crime, religion and education - and the body of evidence associated with them - are covered, as is the historical trail left by taxation, health, welfare, work and business. He looks also at the military and wartime records available in the city, and at the records of immigrant communities who have had such a notable impact on the development of the capital. Each section introduces the reader to the relevant sources, indicates where they can be found, and offers essential advice on how this information can be used to piece together the lives of distant and not-so-distant relatives.
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Tracing Your Servant Ancestors
by Michelle Higgs
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
While there are popular and academic books on servants and domestic service, as well as television dramas and documentaries, little attention has been paid to the sources family historians can use to explore the lives and careers of their servant ancestors. Michelle Higgss accessible and authoritative handbook has been written to serve just this purpose.
Covering the period from the eighteenth century through to the Second World War, her survey gives a fascinating insight into the conditions of domestic service and the experience of those who worked within it. She quotes examples from the sources to show exactly how they can be used to trace individuals. Chapters cover the historical background of domestic service; the employers; the social hierarchy within the servant class; and the recruitment and responsibilities of servants.
A comprehensive account of the available sources the census, wills, directories, household accounts, tax and union records, diaries and online sources - provides readers with all the information they need to do their own research. This short, vivid overview will be invaluable to anyone keen to gain a practical understanding of the realities of servant’s lives.
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Tracing Your Edinburgh Ancestors
A Guide for Family and Local historians
by Alan Stewart
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Edinburgh has been the capital of Scotland for the last 500 years and more. The 'Athens of the North' is the centre of Scottish banking, medicine, architecture, law and publishing. It is the home of Scotland's national museums and the location of the Queen's official residence in Scotland and of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. It is also the site of the Edinburgh Festival and Royal Military Tattoo, and the seat of the devolved Scottish government. The city is steeped in national, local and family history, and Alan Stewart's handbook is the perfect guide to it. He takes readers through the story of Edinburgh from the earliest times up to the present day, showing how its colourful history has affected the lives of their ancestors. The many genealogical records of Edinburgh are described in detail, and appendices cover genealogy websites, family history societies, and Edinburgh's many archives, museums, art galleries, castles and palaces.
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Tracing Your Ancestors in County Records
A Guide for Family and Local Historians
by Stuart Raymond
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
For over 500 years, between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Justices of the Peace were the embodiment of government for most of our ancestors. The records they and other county officials kept are invaluable sources for local and family historians, and Stuart Raymond's handbook is the first in-depth guide to them. He shows how and why they were created, what information they contain, and how they can be accessed and used. Justices of the Peace met regularly in Quarter Sessions, judging minor criminal matters, licensing alehouses, paying pensions to maimed soldiers, overseeing roads and bridges, and running gaols and hospitals. They supervised the work of parish constables, highway surveyors, poor law overseers, and other officers. And they kept extensive records of their work, which are invaluable to researchers today. As Stuart Raymond explains, the lord lieutenant, the sheriff, the assize judges, the clerk of the peace, and the coroner, together with a variety of subordinate officials, also played important roles in county government. Most of them left records that give us detailed insights into our ancestors' lives. The wide range of surviving county records deserve to be better known and more widely used, and Stuart Raymond's book is a fascinating introduction to them.
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Ypres
A Guide for Family Historians
by Simon Fowler
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Do you have an ancestor who served at Ypres in the First World War, during the four years in which the city was in the front line? Perhaps you have thought of visiting the battlefields nearby and the monuments that commemorate them, and want to find out exactly where your ancestor served and what part he played in the four great battles that took place there?
So many British soldiers served in Flanders during the long struggle to defend the Ypres Salient and to break out of it that there is a good chance that your ancestor was there at some stage of the war. This practical and informative handbook is an ideal guide to the struggle for the city and the stories of the men who took part in it. It is also a fascinating introduction to researching the Great War as a whole.
Simon Fowler outlines the course of the fighting around the city and he introduces the most important historical resources that you can use to explore the history for yourself. The book identifies the key sources for family historians, including at The National Archives and the Imperial War Museum, together with the many resources online that researchers can turn to. There is also advice on the literature, archives, museums and monuments that may help you to gain an insight into your ancestor's story.
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Tracing Your East Anglian Ancestors
A Guide For Family Historians
by Gill Blanchard
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Gill Blanchards practical and informative handbook will help you to trace your ancestors in the traditional counties of East Anglia - Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex and it will give you a fascinating insight into their lives.As well as guiding the researcher to historical records held in all the relevant archives, she explores the wealth of other resources that add the 'flesh to the bones' of our ancestors' lives. She describes how fascinating information can be discovered about the places they lived in and the important historical events they lived through, and she traces the life stories of notable people from all backgrounds who shaped the regions development over the centuries.Her account highlights East Anglias diversity but also focuses on its common features and its strong sense of identity. She starts with a general introduction to its history and geography, then goes on to focus on different aspects of its rich past. In the process she illustrates a wide array of additional research resources that will be revealing for readers who want to find out more about all aspects of life in this area of England.
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Tracing Your Church of England Ancestors
A Guide for Family and Local Historians
by Stuart A. Raymond
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
In his latest handbook on the records of the major Christian religions, Stuart Raymond focuses on the Church of England. He identifies the available sources, comments on their strengths and weaknesses and explains how to make the best use of them. The history of the Church of England is covered, from the Reformation in the mid-sixteenth century until the present day. Anyone who has a family connection with the Church of England or a special interest in the local history of the church will find his book to be a mine of practical information and an essential aid for their research. A sequence of short, accessible chapters gives an insight into the relevant records and demonstrates how much fascinating genealogical information can be gleaned from them. After providing a brief history of the Church of England, and a description of its organization, Stuart Raymond explores the wide range of records that researchers can consult. Among them are parish registers, bishops’ transcripts, marriage licenses, churchwardens’ accounts, vestry minutes, church magazines, tithe records and the records of the ecclesiastical courts and Anglican charities and missions. A wealth of research material is available and this book is the perfect introduction to it.
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Tracing Your Kent Ancestors
A Guide for Family and Local Historians
by David Wright
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Genealogically and historically, Kent is an important maritime county which has played a prime defensive role in English history. It is large and diverse and replete with great houses, castles and other family homes, many with their own archives. It is also a fascinating area of research for family and local historians, and David Wrights handbook is the perfect guide to it. For thirty-five years he has been working with the various Kent archives, and his extensive experience means he is uniquely well placed to introduce them to other researchers and show how they can be used. He summarizes the many different classes of Kent records, both national and local. For the first time he draws together the best of modern indexing and cataloguing along with other long-established sources to produce a balanced and up-to-date overview of Kentish genealogical sources where to find them, their contents and utility to researchers. Tracing Your Kent Ancestors is essential reading and reference for newcomers to family history, and it will be a mine of practical information for researchers who have already started to work in the field.
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Tracing Your Trade & Craftsman Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Adéle Emm
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Almost all of us have a tradesman or craftsman a butcher, baker or candlestick maker somewhere in our ancestry, and Adle Emm's handbook is the perfect guide to finding out about them about their lives, their work and the world they lived in. She introduces the many trades and crafts, looks at their practices and long traditions, and identifies and explains the many sources you can go to in order to discover more about them and their families. Chapters cover the guilds, the merchants, shopkeepers, builders, smiths and metalworkers, cordwainers and shoemakers, tailors and dressmakers, coopers, wheelwrights and carriage-makers, and a long list of other trades and crafts. The training and apprenticeships of individuals who worked in these trades and crafts are described, as are their skills and working conditions and the genealogical resources that preserve their history and give an insight into their lives. A chapter covers the general sources that researchers can turn to the National Archives, the census, newspapers, wills, and websites and gives advice on how to use them. Adle Emm's introduction will be fascinating reading for anyone who is researching the social or family history of trades and crafts.
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Tracing Your British Indian Ancestors
by Emma Jolly
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Tracing Your British Indian Ancestors gives a fascinating insight into the history of the subcontinent under British rule and into the lives the British led there. It also introduces the reader to the range of historical records that can be consulted in order to throw light on the experience of individuals who were connected to India over the centuries of British involvement in the country.
Emma Jolly looks at every aspect of British Indian history and at all the relevant resources. She explains the information held in the British Library India Office Records and The National Archives. She also covers the records of the armed forces, the civil service and the railways, as well as religious and probate records, and other sources available for researchers. At the same time, she provides a concise and vivid social history of the British in India: from the early days of the East India Company, through the Mutiny and the imposition of direct British rule in the mid-nineteenth century, to the independence movement and the last days of the Raj. Her book will help family historians put their research into an historical perspective, giving them a better understanding of the part their ancestors played in India in the past.
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Tracing Your Medical Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Michelle Higgs
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
The medical profession had as much influence on the lives of our ancestors as it does on our lives today. It occupied an extraordinary range of individuals - surgeons, doctors, nurses and specialists of all kinds. Yet, despite burgeoning interest in all aspects of history and ancestry, medicine has rarely been considered from the point of view of a family historian. This is the main purpose of Michelle Higgs’ accessible and authoritative introduction to the subject. Assuming the reader has little prior knowledge of how or where to look for such information, she traces the development of medical practice and patient care. She describes how attitudes to illnesses and disease have changed over time. In particular, she looks at the parts played in the system by doctors and nurses - at their role, training and places of work and she also looks at the patients and their experience of medicine in their day. Each section identifies the archives and records that the family historian can turn to, and discusses other potential sources including the Internet. The book is an invaluable guide to all the information that can give an insight into the experience of an ancestor who worked in medicine or had a medical history.
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Tracing Your Ancestors Through Letters & Personal Writings
A Guide for Family Historians
by Ruth A. Symes
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Could your ancestors write their own names or did they mark official documents with a cross? Why did great-grandfather write so cryptically on a postcard home during the First World War? Why did great-grandmother copy all the letters she wrote into letter-books? How unusual was it that great-uncle sat down and wrote a poem, or a memoir?
Researching Family History Through Ancestors' Personal Writings looks at the kinds of (mainly unpublished) writing that could turn up amongst family papers from the Victorian period onwards - a time during which writing became crucial for holding families together and managing their collective affairs.
With industrialization, improved education, and far more geographical mobility, British people of all classes were writing for new purposes, with new implements, in new styles, using new modes of expression and new methods of communication (e.g. telegrams and postcards). Our ancestors had an itch for scribbling from the most basic marks (initials, signatures and graffiti on objects as varied as trees, rafters and window ledges), through more emotionally charged kinds of writing such as letters and diaries, to more creative works such as poetry and even fiction.
This book shows family historians how to get the most out of documents written by their ancestors and, therefore, how better to understand the people behind the words.
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Tracing Your First World War Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Simon Fowler
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
The First World War was perhaps the most traumatic event of the Twentieth Century. Millions of men, women and children were affected by it. And it still has a resonance today more than a hundred years after the Armistice. This guide offers a simple, yet comprehensive, guide to researching the men and women from Britain-and its dominions and colonies-who took part in the First World War either at the front or at home It is an accessible, up-to-date and expert introduction to get you on your way and to answer those questions you might come across during your researches. In a straightforward, easy-to-follow style the book introduces readers to the multitude of sources they can use to explore the history of the First World War for themselves. In a series of short, instructive chapters the book takes the reader through the process of researching ancestors who served during the First World War providing short cuts and background information as required. The book covers the key sources, including the National Archives and the many online sites that researchers can turn to. It also covers records of casualties, munitions workers, conscientious objectors and service personnel from the British Dominions.
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Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records
A Guide for Family Historians
by Chris Paton
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
The history of Ireland is one that was long dominated by the question of land ownership, with complex and often distressing tales over the centuries of dispossession and colonization, religious tensions, absentee landlordism, subsistence farming, and considerably more to sadden the heart. Yet with the destruction of much of Ireland's historic record during the Irish Civil War, and with the discriminatory Penal Laws in place in earlier times, it is often within land records that we can find evidence of our ancestors' existence, in some cases the only evidence, where the relevant vital records for an area may never have been kept or may not have survived.
In Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, genealogist and bestselling author Chris Paton explores how the surviving records can help with our ancestral research, but also tell the stories of the communities from within which our ancestors emerged. He explores the often controversial history of ownership of land across the island, the rights granted to those who held estates and the plights of the dispossessed, and identifies the various surviving records which can help to tease out the stories of many of Ireland's forgotten generations.
Along the way Chris Paton identifies the various ways to access the records, whether in Ireland's many archives, local and national, and increasingly through a variety of online platforms.
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Tracing Your Family History With the Whole Family
A Family Research Adventure for All Ages
by Robin McConnell
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
This book is innovative. A plethora of genealogy books primarily assume that family history research is by adults, for adults, marking family history as an 'adults only' sphere of life. This book establishes a new dimension in family history research. It is written in the belief that engaging in family history is a venture for all of the present-day family, regardless of age and, sometimes, because of age. To assist those of all ages who venture into this wider domain of family history the book is laden with practical examples. The author has an outstanding educational background with marked national success at all levels, from sole-teacher of a rural school to professorship achievements. At each level he has been noted nationally. His qualifications reflect this lasting commitment to education with imagination and an abiding belief in the potential of families and their children. He is an acknowledged international expert in teams and team leadership. The subject of his Doctor of Philosophy thesis was in this field and his Master of Philosophy thesis, 'The Singing Word', was an experiential development of children's creative writing. He is a lifelong genealogist. This book, assuredly, has new material for families, educators and children. It leads from their research of the family's yesterdays to depictions of the family's contemporary setting. It then leads children and adults into factual and creative portrayals of their present lives which will be handed on to future generations as informative elements of past and present family history.
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Fashion & Family History
Interpreting How Your Ancestors Dressed
by Jayne Shrimpton
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
This illustrated volume explores what fashion history can reveal about the lives of your British ancestors.
As Britain evolved from an agrarian society into an urban-industrial nation, dress was transformed. Traditional rural styles gave way to modern city modes, workwear, and holiday attire. Women sewed at home, while advanced textiles and mass-produced goods brought affordable fashion to ordinary people. Many of our predecessors worked as professional garment-makers, laundresses or in other related trades-and they used those skills when caring for their own clothes.
The Victorians observed strict etiquette through special costumes for Sundays, marriage, and mourning. Poorer families struggled to maintain standards while young single workers spent their wages on clothes and the older generation cultivated their own discreet style. Twentieth-century dress grew more relaxed and democratic as popular culture influenced fashion for recent generations who enjoyed sports, cinema, music, and dancing.
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Tracing Your Prisoner Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Stephen Wade
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
The history of the British prison system only had systematic records from the middle of the nineteenth century. Before that, material on prisoners in local jails and houses of correction was patchy and minimal. In more recent times, many prison records have been destroyed.
In Tracing Your Prisoner Ancestors, crime historian Stephen Wade attempts to provide information and guidance to family and social history researchers in this difficult area of criminal records. His book covers the span of time from medieval to modern, and includes some Scottish and Irish sources.
The sources explained range broadly from central calendars of prisoners, court records and jail returns, through to memoirs and periodicals. The chapters also include case studies and short biographies of some individuals who experienced our prisons and left some records.
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Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet
A Guide for Family Historians
by Chris Paton
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Scotland is a land with a proud and centuries long history that far predates its membership of Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Today in the 21st century it is also a land that has done much to make its historical records accessible, to help those with Caledonian ancestry trace their roots back to earlier times and a world long past. In Tracing Scottish Family History on the Internet, Chris Paton expertly guides the family historian through the many Scottish records offerings available, but also cautions the reader that not every record is online, providing detailed advice on how to use web based finding aids to locate further material across the country and beyond. He also examines social networking and the many DNA platforms that are currently further revolutionizing online Scottish research. From the Scottish Government websites offering access to our most important national records, to the holdings of local archives, libraries, family history societies, and online vendors, Chris Paton takes the reader across Scotland, from the Highlands and Islands, through the Central Belt and the Lowlands, and across the diaspora, to explore the various flavors of Scottishness that have bound us together as a nation for so long.
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Tracing Your Poor Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Stuart A. Raymond
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Many people in the past – perhaps a majority – were poor. Tracing our ancestors amongst them involves consulting a wide range of sources. Stuart Raymond's handbook is the ideal guide to them. He examines the history of the poor and how they survived. Some were supported by charity. A few were lucky enough to live in an almshouse. Many had to depend on whatever the poor law overseers gave them. Others were forced into the Union workhouse. Some turned to a life of crime. Vagrants were whipped and poor children were apprenticed by the overseers or by a charity. Paupers living in the wrong place were forcibly 'removed' to their parish of settlement. Many parishes and charities offered them the chance to emigrate to North America or Australia. As a result there are many places where information can be found about the poor. Stuart Raymond describes them all: the records of charities, of the poor law overseers, of poor law unions, of Quarter Sessions, of bankruptcy, and of friendly societies. He suggests many other potential sources of information in record offices, libraries, and on the internet.
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Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet
A Guide for Family Historians
by Chris Paton
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
In this, the fully updated second edition of his best-selling guide to researching Irish history using the internet, Chris Paton shows the extraordinary variety of sources that can now be accessed online. Although Ireland has lost many records that would have been of great interest to family historians, he demonstrates that a great deal of information survived and is now easily available to the researcher.Thanks to the pioneering efforts of the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, the National Archives of Ireland, organizations such as FindmyPast Ireland, Ancestry.co.uk and RootsIreland and the volunteer genealogical community, an ever-increasing range of Ireland's historical resources are accessible from afar.As well as exploring the various categories of records that the family historian can turn to, Chris Paton illustrates their use with fascinating case studies. He fully explores the online records available from both the north and the south from the earliest times to the present day. Many overseas collections are also included, and he looks at social networking in an Irish context where many exciting projects are currently underway.His book is an essential introduction and source of reference for anyone who is keen to trace their Irish roots.
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Tracing Your Potteries Ancestors
A Guide for Family & Local Historians
by Michael Sharpe
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Tracing Your Potteries Ancestors introduces readers to the wealth of information available to those wishing to trace their North Staffordshire roots. Michael Sharpe gives a fascinating insight into the history of this part of the Midlands which was for so long dominated by the pottery industry. The six pottery towns Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton are at the heart of the story. His handbook is an essential guide for anyone researching the life of an individual or family connected with the area, bringing together all the relevant local and national archives for the first time. In a series of short information-packed chapters it describes the lives and experiences of ordinary people in this most extraordinary of landscapes. It charts the transition of the Six Towns from scattered farming communities to a thriving industrial conurbation. The living conditions of the urban poor, health and welfare, the influence of religion and migration, education, leisure pursuits, and the traumatic experience of war are all explored, and the many different archives and sources that are open to family history researchers are explained.
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Tracing Your Female Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Adéle Emm
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Everyone has a mother and a line of female ancestors and often their paths through life are hard to trace. That is why this detailed, accessible handbook is of such value, for it explores the lives of female ancestors from the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 to the beginning of the First World War. In 1815 a woman was the chattel of her husband; by 1914, when the menfolk were embarking on one of the most disastrous wars ever known, the women at home were taking on jobs and responsibilities never before imagined. Adèle Emm's work is the ideal introduction to the role of women during this period of dramatic social change. Chapters cover the quintessential experiences of birth, marriage and death, a woman's working and daily life both middle and working class, through to crime and punishment, the acquisition of an education and the fight for equality. Each chapter gives advice on where further resources, archives, wills, newspapers and websites can be found, with plentiful common sense advice on how to use them.
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Tracing Your Insolvent Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Paul Blake
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Debtors' prisons are infamous but very little has been written about the records of those confined within them in London or elsewhere in the country. Even less has been written about the trials of those who were often incarcerated following misfortune or mismanagement rather than criminal intent. That is why Paul Blake's handbook will be so useful for researchers who want to find out about forebears who may have been caught up in the insolvency system. In a series of information-filled chapters, he covers the historical background to the handling of debt and debtors, and bankruptcy and bankrupts. In addition, he describes the courts and procedures faced by both creditors and debtors, and the prisons where so many debtors were confined. Throughout the book, details are given of the records that researchers can turn to in order to explore the subject for themselves. Many are held at The National Archives, but others are to be found at local record offices around the country. Paul Blake's book will be appreciated by local, social and family historians, as well as those with an interest in debtor crime and punishment, and bankrupts in general.
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Tracing Your Freemason, Friendly Society & Trade Union Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Daniel Weinbren
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Fraternal and friendly societies and trade unions — associations that provide mutual aid and benefits — have a long, fascinating history and the most famous of them — the Freemasons — have a reputation for secrecy, ritual and intrigue that excites strong interest and has been the subject of widespread misunderstanding. Daniel Weinbren, in this concise and accessible handbook, dispels the myths that surround them and gives readers an insight into their real purposes, their membership and their development over the centuries. He has also compiled a detailed compendium of books, archives, libraries, and internet sites that readers and researchers can consult to find out more about these organizations and to trace the involvement and experience of family members who were connected with them. The origins of these societies are explored as are their economic, social and civic functions and the impact they had on the lives of individuals who joined them. The range of such societies covered includes the popular and international ones such as the Oddfellows, Foresters and Rechabites, as well as the smaller local fraternal organizations. The type of assistance they offer, their structure and hierarchy, meetings and ceremonies, regalia and processions, and feasts and annual gatherings are all described and explained. So much information about these organizations and their membership is easily available if you know where to look, and Daniel Weinbren's work is the ideal introduction to them. Anyone who has a forebear who was at some time linked with one of these organizations will find his book to be an essential guide to their research.
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Tracing Your Ancestors in Lunatic Asylums
A Guide for Family Historians
by Michelle Higgs
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
A concise handbook for genealogical research into patients of British mental institutions from the 18th to the early 20th centuries.
An expert in British Victorian history, Michelle Higgs helps readers uncover information about relatives whose lives are too often forgotten. Higgs concentrates on the period from the eighteenth century to 1948 when the National Health Service was founded. Using original records, contemporary accounts, photographs, illustrations and case studies of real individuals, Higgs brings the story of the asylums and their patients to life.
Different types of institution are covered, including private madhouses, county lunatic asylums, facilities for idiots and imbeciles, and military mental hospitals. Chapters look at the admission procedures and daily routine of patients, plus different kinds of mental illness and how they were treated. Separate sections discuss the systems in Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales. Information is provided on all the relevant sources, from wills and the census to casebooks and admission and discharge registers.
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Tracing Your Labour Movement Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Mark Crail
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
If you want to find out about the life of an ancestor who was active in the labor movement or was a union member, this handbook will be a fascinating introduction to the subject. Mark Crail provides a graphic and authoritative account of the history of the labor movement in Britain from the early nineteenth century to the modern day. He gives a vivid insight into the key stages in the development of labor relations - the battles fought by labor movement pioneers, the formation of the first unions, the influence of Chartism and the early socialist societies, the rise of the Labor Party and other left-wing groups, and the impact of organized labor on workers lives as ordinary people gradually won the right to vote over the course of 200 years. At the same time he describes in detail the various books, museums, archives, websites and other resources that researchers can use to explore labor history for themselves and to uncover the careers and experience of their ancestors. A mass of information is available relating to individuals and to labor history in general, and this handbook is an invaluable guide to it. 'Tracing Your Labor Movement Ancestors' should be essential reading for anyone who wishes to learn about the origins and development of the labor movement and the role of individuals within it.
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Tracing Your Ancestors Through the Equity Courts
A Guide for Family and Local Historians
by Susan T. Moore
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
The records of the Courts of Equity, which dealt with cases of fairness rather than law, are among the most detailed, extensive and revealing of all the legal documents historians can consult, yet they are often neglected. Susan Moore's expert introduction to them opens up this fascinating source to researchers who may not be familiar with them and dont know how to take advantage of them. As she traces the purpose, history and organization of the Courts of Equity from around 1500 to 1876, she demonstrates how varied their role was and how valuable their archives are for us today. She covers the Courts of Chancery, Exchequer, Star Chamber, Requests, Palatinates and Duchy of Lancaster in clear detail. Her work shows researchers why their records are worth searching, how to search them and how many jewels of information can be found in them. This introduction will be appreciated by local, social and family historians who are coming to these records for the first time and by those who already know of the records but have found them daunting.
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Tracing Your Northern Irish Ancestors
A Guide for Family Historians
by Ian Maxwell
Part of the Tracing Your Ancestors series
Tracing Your Northern Irish Ancestors is an expert introduction for the family historian to the wealth of material available to researchers in archives throughout Northern Ireland. Many records, like the early twentieth-century census returns and school registers, will be familiar to researchers, but others are often overlooked by all but the most experienced of genealogists. An easy-to-use, informative guide to the comprehensive collections available at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland is a key feature of Ian Maxwell’s handbook. He also takes the reader through the records held in many libraries, museums and heritage centers across the province, and he provides detailed coverage of records that are available online. Unlike the rest of the British Isles, which has very extensive civil and census records, Irish ancestral research is hampered by the destruction of many of the major collections. Yet Ian Maxwell shows how family historians can make good use of church records, school registers and land and valuation records to trace their roots to the beginning of the nineteenth century and beyond.