Do you believe you are descended from the aristocracy or even from royalty? Or do you have a line of descent from a blue-blooded family but want to know more? How far back do noble & royal lines go? How do coats of arms work & how can heraldic records tell you more? How can genetics help you find your aristocratic origins? In Tracing Your Aristocratic Ancestors leading British genealogist Anthony Adolph explains how to decode family stories to find the truth & prove your descent from blue-blooded forebears. His book shows you how to expand your aristocratic pedigree sideways & backwards incorporating heraldic records & printed pedigrees such as those in Burkes Peerage. In a series of concise fact-filled chapters he explains how to find out about & prove aristocratic ancestry defines who is blue-blooded & describes all the sources that researchers can use to explore this fascinating subject. Under Adolphs guidance you will travel back into the distant past using cutting-edge DNA technology & arcane genealogies back to the evolution of the human race & the point where real ancestors fade into mythical ones
- Adam & Eve the heroes of old & ultimately the very gods themselves.
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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 & 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 & he pays particular attention to explaining the records & the reasons behind their creation as this information can be very important in understanding how these documents can help your research. ...

The Black Country in the West Midlands is an important site for family historians. Many researchers seeking to trace their ancestry back through the generations will find their trail leads through it. & yet despite the burgeoning interest in genealogy & the importance of the region in so many life stories no previous book has provided a guide to the Black Country's history & to the documents & records that family historians can use in their research. In this accessible & informative introduction to the subject Michael Pearson looks at the history & heritage of the region & gives a graphic insight into the world in which our ancestors lived. He concentrates on the role the Black Country played during the industrial revolution when the development of mining industry & transport transformed the economic & social life of the area. This was a period when living & working conditions were poor families were large children worked from an early age often in the mines & life expectancy was less than 20. & it was the era in which the Black Country took on the distinctive identity by which it is known today. As well as retelling the fascinating story of the development of the Black Country the author introduces the reader to the variety of records that are available for genealogical research from legal & ecclesiastical archives birth & death certificates to the records of local government employers institutions clubs societies & schools. ...

Britain's industrial revolution depended on canals for the cheap movement of materials & goods
- until the coming of the railways.
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East Enders are a very special breed & tracing your East End ancestry is going to be tremendous fun. Everyone has got some East End ancestors
- & if they havent they invent them rollicking chaps larky & resourceful talking a funny language to keep them" guessing eating at eel & pie shops shouting out their wares in clattering colourful markets. Their wives & masters (" er in doors") are brazen lassies smart as paint tough as their men folk presiding over an undoubted matriarchal society where Mum rules OK? The good tales are of bright little kids unshod & street-wise rising above their origins & making a mint. The bad ones are of indescribable horror
- children dying in diseased heaps infant sex for sale & gangs of armed bandits terrorising the neighbourhood. As author Jane Cox writes in the preface the East End of our great grandparents days was another world & her fascinating & accessible guide to East End ancestry will help you find out about it. She takes readers through the maze of courts & alleys that was the home of their ancestors bringing to life that vibrant polyglot society & describing the many sources researchers can consult
- archives records books the internet
- in order to discover the lives of individuals who lived in the area or passed through it."



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Anyone who wants to find out about the history of their house
- of their home
- needs to read this compact practical handbook.

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Between the sixteenth & eighteenth centuries many thousands of Protestants fled religious persecution in France & the Low Countries. They became one of the most influential immigrant communities in the countries where they settled & many families in modern-day Britain will find a Huguenot connection in their past. Kathy Chaters authoritative handbook offers an accessible introduction to Huguenot history & to the many sources that researchers can use to uncover the Huguenot ancestry they may not have realized they had. She traces the history of the Huguenots; their experience of persecution & their flight to Britain North America the West Indies & South Africa concentrating on the Huguenot communities that settled in England Ireland Scotland & the Channel Islands. Her work is also an invaluable guide to the various sources researchers can turn to in order to track their Huguenot ancestors for she describes the wide range of records that is available in local regional & national archives as well as through the internet & overseas. Her expert overview is essential reading for anyone studying their Huguenot ancestry or immigrant history in Britain. ...

Genealogical research in Ireland has always depended on records that are more fragmented localised & difficult to access than anywhere else. The internet is changing that. More & more records are coming online & this book is an indispensable guide to what these records are where they are & what they mean. This fourth edition of Tracing Your Irish Ancestors embraces online research as an essential part of any Irish family history project. Grenham

Includes:: detailed guides to Irish online records throughout the book discussing the idiosyncrasies of the digital versions of sources & outlining research strategies. The sheer scale of digitisation can make it both easier & more confusing to do research & makes a guide such as this all the more essential. John Grenhams well-established & detailed guide has thorough descriptions of all the relevant sources & county-by-county reference lists
- all expanded updated & indexed to make the book easier to use than ever before.


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If you want to find out about Lancashires history & particularly if you have family links to the area & your ancestors lived or worked in the county then this is the ideal book for you. As well as helping you to trace when & where your ancestors were born married & died it gives you an insight into the world they knew & a chance to explore their lives at work & at home. Sue Wilkess accessible & informative handbook outlines Lancashires history & describes the origins of its major industries
- cotton coal transport engineering shipbuilding & others. She looks at the stories of important Lancashire families such as the Stanleys Peels & Egertons & famous entrepreneurs such as Richard Arkwright in order to illustrate aspects of Lancashire life & to show how the many sources available for family & local history research can be used. Relevant documents specialist archives & libraries background reading & other sources are recommended throughout this practical book. Also included is a directory of Lancashire archives libraries & academic repositories as well as databases of family history societies useful genealogy websites & places to visit which bring Lancashires past to life. Sue Wilkess book is the essential companion for anyone who wants to discover their Lancashire roots.
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Tracing Your Liverpool Ancestors provides a fascinating insight into everyday life in the Liverpool area over the past four centuries. Mike Royden introduces readers to the wealth of material available on the citys history & its people. In a series of short informative chapters he describes Liverpools history through shipping manufacturing & trade from the original fishing village to the present cosmopolitan metropolis of today. In each chapter he provides the history of a subject including relevant case studies & any further research he has. He then tells the reader the best places to visit to find information for themselves. The subjects that Mike covers in the chapters include the living conditions of people including poverty & the labouring poor health & the ravages of disease the influence of religion & migration education & the traumatic experience of war. He also shows how the lives of Liverpudlians changed over the centuries & how this is reflected in the records that have survived. Mike Royden is a leading authority of the history of Liverpool. He has been researching & writing for over 30 years & is a popular lecturer on the subject. Mike runs many family history websites & is author of a number of titles such as: Liverpool: Caring for Women babies in Liverpool- A History of Mill Road Hospital; A History of Liverpool Maternity Hospital The Womens Hospital Liverpool & a biography of Edward Rushton. ...