Ancestral Trails. The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History [Paperback]

Mark D. Herber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2000 | ISBN-10: 0806316330 | ISBN-13: 978-0806316338 | Edition: Revised

It is an irony that there has been no comprehensive book on English genealogy; it is even somewhat astonishing that there is no book that guides the researcher beyond the rudiments of genealogical research, no book that enables the researcher to forge iron- clad links to original source material and published sources, nor any single work that can be called the Bible of English genealogy, on a par with Val Greenwood's Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy. But now, with the publication of Ancestral Trails by Mark Herber, a work published in association with the Society of Genealogists (London), a definitive text on English genealogy is at last available.

Lavishly illustrated and breathtaking in coverage, Ancestral Trails guides the researcher through the maze of British archives, giving a detailed view of the records and the published sources available, analyzing each record and guiding the searcher to finding-aids and indexes. The early chapters help beginners take their first steps by dealing with such matters as obtaining information from living relatives, drawing family trees, and starting research in the records of birth, marriage, and death, or in census records. Later chapters guide researchers to the records that are more difficult to find and use, such as wills, parish registers, civil and ecclesiastical court records, poll books, and property records. So the book is ideal for the beginner and the experienced researcher alike, and will enable those who are persistent enough to trace their ancestry back to the Middle Ages.

One of the aims of the book--entirely unique to it--is to link sources together, to ensure that researchers can use material found in one source to assist a search in other sources. Another aim, somewhat more modest but equally essential, is to bring the reader up-to-date with the many important changes that have taken place in English genealogy over the last few years. These changes include the movement of census records and the indexes of births, marriages, and deaths to the new Family Records Centre at 1 Myddelton Street, London; the opening of the 1891 census; the placement of parish registers in county record offices; the transcription and indexing of census returns and parish records; and county and regional boundary changes. Anything even slightly affecting your research is thus dealt with and brought up-to-date, making the book an essential reference and an indispensable field manual. The scope of Herber's work is so thorough that it's worth looking at the table of contents, where chapter headings alone tell the tale:
* An introduction to genealogical research
* Personal recollections, photographs, memorabilia
* Organization of your research materials
* General problems in locating and using records
* Civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths since 1837
* Census returns
* Parish registers
* Churchyards and cemeteries
* Directories
* Combining sources of information
* Record offices, libraries, archives, and family history societies
* Wills and administrations
* Roman Catholic, non-Conformist, and Jewish records
* Marriage and divorce
* Maps, land registration, introduction to property records
* Local and social history
* Newspapers, poll books, and electoral registers
* Records of the poor, parish records, and town records
* Records of the Army, Royal Marines, and Royal Air Force
* Records of shipping and seamen
* Records of trades and professions, family businesses, employment
* Oaths, taxation, and insurance records
* Records of the civil and ecclesiastical courts
* Records of Justices of the Peace, criminals, and criminal courts
* Education
* Peerages, the gentry, famous people, and heraldry
* Further property records
* Tracing migrants and locating living relatives
* Research in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Isle of Man, Channel Isles
* Immigration, emigration, and investigations abroad

In addition to the contents noted above, this new paperback edition contains a supplement of updated or amended information that has appeared since the publication of the original hardback edition in 1998, a new appendix containing web site addresses, and an expanded bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Herber's book is billed as "the complete guide to British genealogy and family history," and that is exactly what it is. Thoughtfully designed, this orderly, comprehensive, and elegant work guides the researcher (beginner or advanced) through the entire process of tracing British heritage, from obtaining information from living relatives to drawing family trees and starting research in the birth, marriage, death, or census records. 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. Written for practitioners by a practitioner (Herber is a member of the Society of Genealogists in London), this complete, current, and beautiful guide ultimately helps the researcher focus on how the ancestral trail begins and how to form a coherent picture of past generations and their links to the present. Highly recommended. Howells's Netting Your Ancestors, on the other hand, is less elegant in delivering its guidance to genealogical research on the Internet. Nothing that it covers?the selection of hardware and software, getting a direct internet connection, E-mail, mailing lists, and newsgroups?is tied uniquely to genealogical research. In fact, a good 95 percent of the skills and tools it covers could be gleaned just as effectively from any basic computer book. This seems to be written as a how-to book?how to get to the author's popular web site. Not recommended.?Scott Hightower, Gallatin/NYU
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

No other publication gives such comprehensive and up-to-date guidance on tracing British ancestry and researching family history. Illustrated throughout with more than ninety examples of the major record types, and with detailed lists of further reading, Ancestral Trails will be the essential companion and guide for all family historians. --Anthony Camp, former Director, Society of Genealogists [London] --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 720 pages
• Publisher: Genealogical Pub Co; Revised edition (May 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806316330
• ISBN-13: 978-0806316338
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,104,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indeed I was impressed with this 674 page "encyclopedia.", September 9, 1998

By 

DearMYRTLE (Bellevue, WA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Ancestral Trails : The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History (Hardcover)

"No other publication gives such comprehensive and up-to-date guidance on tracing British ancestry and researching family history. Illustrated throughout with more than ninety examples of the major types of records, and with detailed lists of further reading, Ancestral Trails will be the essential companion and guide for all family historians." Anthony Camp, Director, Society of Genealogists.

This excellent publication was created in association with the prestigious Society of Genealogists, perhaps akin to the US' National Genealogical Society. The author Mark D. Herber is a solicitor who began researching his family in 1979. He has successfully traced some of his lines back to around 1580.

Indeed I was impressed with this 674 page "encyclopedia." (Quotes added for emphasis!) The bibliography alone is twenty-two pages. My experience with English records has been limited to early parish records in Devon and some Court of Canterbury wills, so I was most eager to have the opinion of three friends who do extensive English, Welsh and Irish research, and indeed are successful in helping others make strong headway in their research. You can imagine the excitement at our local LDS Family History Center as they poured over the book with uncustomary enthusiasm!

The consensus is that ANCESTRAL TRAILS is as definitive of British research as Ancestry's THE SOURCE is of American genealogy. Lew, a 1st generation Brit, was impressed with the chapter on military records, and made a note to order the book forthwith. Elsie, born of English immigrant parents, had been inquiring previously about manor court records and found this publication provided more than she had found in explanation elsewhere. I was impressed with the 94 illustrations, including typical certificates of vital records, representative samples of wills and the like.

Also impressive is the attention given to beginning genealogists. Basics such as pedigree charts, personal recollections & memorabilia, spelling, handwriting, dates, obtaining certificates and organization of collected materials are discussed with ample illustrations.

Additional chapters include: General Problems Encountered by Researchers, Civil Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths, Census Returns, Parish Registers, Churchyards and Cemeteries, Directories, Combining Sources, Archives, Libraries and Family History Societies, Wills and Administrations,Catholic, Nonconformist and Jewish Records, Marriage and Divorce, Maps, Land Registrations and Property Records, Local and Social History, Newspapers and Elections,Parish and Town Records, Records of the Army, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force, Records of Shipping and Seaman, Records of Trades, Professions and Business, Oaths, Taxation and Insurance Records Records of Civil and Ecclesiastical Courts, Records of the Criminal Courts and Criminals, Education, Peerages, the Gentry, Famous People and Heraldry, Further Property Records, Tracing Migrants and Living Relatives, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands Immigration, Emigration and Investigation Abroad

Appendices included essential information under the following topics: Codes for areas and volumes in the GRO Indexes, Indexes to other GRO records, Chapman County Codes, Seize Quarters of Bessie Maude Symes, Extracts from the Bullied and Keates family trees, Public Record Office Information Leaflets, County Record Offices & other archives, Commencement dates of the reigns of English and British monarchs, Wills & Administrations in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury: A Summary of Finding-Aids, Records of the Court of Chancery: A summary of Finding-Aids.

Owing only to its tiny print, you'll need a magnifying glass in addition to your bi-focals to glean all that's contained in Ancestral Trails. On the best advice of our resident "British Research Gurus," I most heartily recommend this book.

DearMYRTLE

Daily Genealogy Columnist

Genealogy Forum on America Online

Keyword: dearmyrtle

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding reference book for British genealogy., March 3, 1998

By 

Mark Howells (Puyallup, Washington State, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ancestral Trails: the complete guide to British Genealogy and Family History (Hardcover)

The field of genealogical research in Great Britain is littered with literature. This scepter'd isle has a long history of excellently preserved source records, an enthusiastic community of genealogists, and a wealth of authors willing to guide the enthusiasts through the records. Given this background, it is difficult to imagine that a new work on British genealogical research could quickly become a new "standard reference". Mark Herber has made his Ancestral Trails just such a standard. Ancestral Trails, written in association with the Society of Genealogists in the United Kingdom, is 688 pages of top quality writing, organization, and completeness of coverage. It takes a textbook approach to the subject of genealogical records, leading the reader from the more basic sources such as civil registration and parish records on to the more specialized such as military and educational records. Far from being dry in style, the author uses well chosen examples from his own years of researching his ancestors to explain how the record types in question can be used by the family historian. Some authors who use examples from their own research can detract from their work by doing so. In contrast, Mark Herber has made his personal examples of real research situations enhance the text because of their relevancy to his topics. Nearly one hundred examples of significant records are included as illustrations. Researchers experienced in using British records as well as beginners will find this encyclopedic guide useful. The author covers newly-available resources such as the 1881 Census Index and provides excellent research advice and several clever shortcuts to using this new finding aid. Those researchers with Essex ancestors will be doubly blessed by this book as many of Mark Herber's examples are from research in that county. The extensive bibliography really sets this book apart as a new standard reference. Almost one thousand bibliographic references are conveniently referenced from within the book's 30 chapters. Researchers familiar with particular record types will be pleasantly surprised to find Ancestral Trails referring to an exhaustive list of other works on the topic. The author's writing style lucidly describes the important considerations when working with a record type and seamlessly refers the reader to the more specialized works of other authors for greater detail. Ancestral Trails is a thick and thorough tome and an excellent addition to the research knowledge of anyone with British ancestry.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very complete guide-- but get the second edition, September 25, 2004

By 

sootica "sootica" (Encinitas, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ancestral Trails. The Complete Guide to British Genealogy and Family History (Paperback)

I checked this book out from my local library because I felt that I was floundering with my British research. This book answered all the questions that I had, and much, much more. I'm not going to write a long review of this because there are a couple of other excellent reviews here already. I just wanted to add that there is a second edition of this book, from January 2004, available in England, but unfortunately not in the US yet. Because the internet is so valuable to those of us trying to do research from abroad, I decided to spend the extra money and order the newer edition from www.amazon.co.uk . It is more expensive, but it seemed worth it to me to have the most recent edition. If that's important to you, check the publication date on the edition advertised.