Product Description

The definitive handbook for anyone interested in tracing their family's past Firmly practical in its approach, yet entertaining in its style, this reference guide will be the indispensable companion for all who are seeking a reliable, one-source volume to use while tracking down their family origins. The book gives comprehensive guidance on the full variety of governmental, religious and more obscure records available to the family history sleuth. The guide also contains highly useful advice on how to expand and reinvigorate a search when the trail runs cold -- as it inevitably will. Tips on using the Internet as both a starting point and a supplement to more traditional searches are especially useful and timesaving. Author Anthony Adolph balances detailed instruction and guidance with humorous anecdotes and illuminating history lessons, ensuring an informative and entertaining read. In contrast to previous genealogy books, this guide is conscious of the multicultural background of contemporary Britain, and will be an essential tool for anyone whose ancestors came from outside of the UK. With a highly modern look and engaging style, this book should become the standard guide to amateur genalogy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #425967 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-06
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 350 pages

Family History Monthly, November 2004
"In a glut of hardback genealogy books...(Anthony Adolph's) enthusiasm and quirky knowledge makes the book stand out"

Ancestors, December 2004
"Written in a chatty, personal style, Anthony Adolph is, above all else, a professional genealogist, so the information is expert."

From the Inside Flap
A hero of the British-Zulu wars, awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery...a pioneering Indian prime minister of the province of Bhavnagar...Princess Anne's husband's descent from a Jewish merchant of Venice...a 16th-century peasant woman, executed for bewitching a man and his pigs...

These are just some of the extraordinary stories that Anthony Adolph has unearthed in his years of researching family histories. What mysteries does your family's past hold? 'Collins Tracing Your Family History' helps you find out.

From parish records to marriage certificates, from wills to military service records, there is a vast amount of information about your ancestors just waiting to be discovered. Recognising the important influence of the Internet in modern genealogical research, this book tells you how to combine the latest technology with the most proven research techniques as you delve deeper into your heritage.

The guide is perfect for the novice family historian, beginning with the very basics of genealogical research. It will also prove invaluable for those who have made some progress but find their trail has gone cold or want to take their research further - from old county maps to naturalisation records, Anthony Adolph has suggestions for a wealth of more unexpected sources to unblock your search. No matter how deep you would like to dig into your family's past, he leads the way with informative guidance and fascinating case studies.

From Wales to India, Ireland to Jamaica, wherever your family hails from, 'Collins Tracing Your Family History' gives you the expert advice and tips you need to make your search efficient, fruitful - and fascinating. In short, this is the only guide you need to make your family's past come to life.

Customer Reviews

Excellent FH introduction
'Tracing Your Family History' is an excellent guide and reference book that will be useful for any genealogist starting out on a serious family history quest. Not owning Mark Herber's similarly aimed book, 'Ancestral Trails', which at a whopping 840 pages is more than twice the size of Adolph's volume, I can't compare the two, but TYFH is certainly a book that's designed to be used and would make an excellent present for someone starting out in their research. It's the kind of book that's worth dipping in to, and returning to from time to time, as well as reading from cover to cover.

Its chapters are structured by category of record, which means that it is easy find everything you need about specific types or sets of records in one place. This is useful as, once your family history investigation gets under way, this is usually the way one organises the research process.

One danger facing any author in this field is that the internet references quickly become dated. TYFH has a large number of URLs that can be usefully followed up, in fact more than enough to keep an assiduous researcher fully occupied for many, many months. However, if you're the kind of researcher that has to nail down every reference or potential website record then you probably need Peter Christian's 'The Genealogist's Internet', now in its third edition, as well.

It's hard to imagine any single book containing everything that a present-day genealogist would ever want, the range of documentary materials transcribed and online records available is simply too great, but this is an exellent single-volume description of the field that covers the full scope that almost all family history projects will ever need.

Collins Tracing Your Family History
This is an updated edition of a book that was first published in 2004. It is well produced and lavishly illustrated, though some sections could have done with a bit of basic, old-fashioned editorial work and proof-reading. The author, an experienced professional genealogist, covers all the standard sources: oral evidence; birth, marriage and death certificates; census returns; wills, and so on. But there are also useful sections on subjects not touched on by earlier books on family history, such as the implications of DNA technology for genealogists, and the tracing of ancestors who were not born in Great Britain. It is particularly helpful to have an up-to-date address list, which includes some of the most useful websites. In all, a valuable addition to any family historian's library, whether they are a beginner or an old hand.

Good reference guide
This book explains all the basics about starting out on family history research, and is set out in simple and esy to read format - good for just reading selected relevant sections or as a whole. Its well laid out, and easy to follow, but seems to have the crucial hints and tips. Gives a good steer of wher to gomand how to do it - and is extremley up-to-date on data availability - this is a fast changing! A very good book.