Extensive Volume Great Search Tool
Most American genealogists eventually discover they have ancestral lines stretching across the ocean to the British Isles. After all, many of America’s early immigrants came from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
But these same genealogists soon learn there is no comprehensive book on English genealogy. We have long had “The Source,” a wonderful guidebook of American genealogy - and now Genealogical Publishing Co. offers a parallel volume for English genealogy.
“Ancestral Trails: The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History,” by Mark D. Herber, a hefty 688 pages, provides detailed information about the records and repositories of genealogical value as well as the published sources available.
This book is ideal for both beginner and advanced family searchers.
Some chapters help beginners take their first basic steps: talking to your family, using censuses, etc.
Later chapters guide researchers to records that are more difficult to find and use, such as wills, parish registers, civil and ecclesiastical court records, poll books and property records.
One of the book’s aims, something unique to this tome, is a linking of sources together, ensuring that researchers can use material found in one source to assist in a search of other sources.
The chapter “Parish and Town Records” teaches that parish records are more than just recordings of births, marriages and deaths. They often include minutes of meetings, apprentice records, tax records, poor relief expenditure books and papers about settlement and illegitimacy.
The scope of Herber’s work is so thorough that it would take the rest of this column to list just the “Table of Contents.”
To help you decide whether to purchase this book, call Genealogical Publishing Co., (800) 296-6687, and request the free brochure outlining the contents of each chapter.
Order “Ancestral Trails: The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History” for $34.95, plus $3.50 shipping, from Genealogical Publishing Co., 1001 N. Calvert, Baltimore, MD 21202-3897; or use the toll-free number above.
To save the cost of postage, check to see if Ancestors Plus, 825 W. Garland, has copies.
Bill Dollarhide has written what could be a companion book to “Ancestral Trails.” His new book, “British Origins of American Colonists, 1629-1775,” is 60 pages of maps and text outlining and explaining the English origins of the four early immigrant groups:
The East Anglican Puritans to New England, 1629-1640. The West Country Cavaliers and their servants to the Chesapeake, 1640-1675. The North Midland Quakers to the Delaware Valley, 1675-1725. Those who lived on the British and Scottish borders (so-called Scotch-Irish) to the American backwoods, 1717-1775.
Dollarhide’s book helps researchers determine the most likely British origins of these groups. This means that if you’re stumped with an early Pennsylvania ancestor, where might he most likely have originated? Or ancestors in the wilds of western Tennessee, Tidewater Virginia, or Colonial New England ancestors - where might they have lived before emigrating?
Dollarhide’s book gives you a starting point for further research.
Order “British Origins of American Colonists, 1629-1775,” for $12.95, plus $4.50 shipping, from Heritage Quest, P.O. Box 329, Bountiful, UT 84011-0329; or phone (800) 760-2455. Order online at www.heritagequest.com.