BOOKS & DIGITAL PICKS
This month’s family history inspiration
Edward Everett Root, 160 pages, £14.99 This is a quirky, no-frills guide to researching your family history. Lady Teviot’s style is individual, breezy and chatty. The book is said to be aimed at beginners as well as experienced researchers, but readers who have at least some knowledge of genealogy will get the most out of it. Absolute beginners or complete strangers to Britain and its history might struggle with the terminology at first.
The book has a lot to say about how various organisations were set up and why the records mentioned were produced in the first place. Some of the information given is basic, but it also includes the kind of extra hints you would learn in a good evening class on the subject.
After coverage of general registration, the census and parish records, towards the end of the book there are chapters on health, baby farming, workhouses and hospitals. These give an impression of what real life was like for most of our ancestors – the cholera outbreaks, the difficulties experienced by the poor living under the Poor Law, and the treatment of the mentally ill. Some underused documents and records that are usually known only to more advanced researchers are explained. The final two chapters discussing websites are very comprehensive for a book of this size.
This is a shortish book light enough to carry with you on research trips, and it’s a good read straight through. On the downside, there’s no detailed subject index or referencing of individuals’ records; there is, however, a breakdown of the subject matter of each chapter. The disappointing lack of visual images is compensated for by the author’s excellent eye for a good story to illustrate the examples she gives.
The book maintains a brisk pace throughout and is definitely worth a read. Pam Ross is the author of ResearchingYourFamilyHistory (Crowood Press, 2010)