Your Family History: And How to Discover It (Hardcover)

Fully revised, this is a practical and comprehensive guide to the sources and methods available for those who want to trace their family trees - both the searching out of the facts and the means of displaying them for the generations to come. Chapters include guidance on how to make use of national records, parish registers, wills, vestry books, churchwardens' accounts, the records of the professions and of the services, old trade directories, and even the ancient manorial records through which one may - if lucky - glimpse the people of the great medieval hinterland which lies beyond the first Elizabethan registers. The author provides advice on understanding the historical context of one's family, as well as practical guidance on such matters as how to read old handwriting and how to make best use of libraries and repositories. In addition, the book includes illustrations such as sample family trees, coats of arms and photographs of historical records which are extremely useful in explaining the processes involved in tracing family histories. A bibliography and a sizeable list of addresses for further research complement this lucid and accessible book on one of the most fascinating and increasingly popular interests of today.