Essential Reading

'I have been a family historian for more than 40 years, and a professional historian for over 30, but as I read it, I was constantly encountering new ways of looking at my family history....Essential reading I would say!' Alan Crosby, WDYTYA Magazine

Friday 1 May 2015

Coming Soon:

Family First: Tracing Relationships in the Past (Pen and Sword Books, 2015)

By Ruth A. Symes

What was expected of husbands and fathers in your family in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?  How did women experience pregnancy, childbirth, miscarriage and abortion? Did the Victorian 'cult of the baby' influence the way new infants were welcomed into your family? Why was your ancestor's household a particular size and shape?  Did pecking order among siblings matter? How did it feel to be one among twenty children, or a twin, or an only child in the Victorian period? What roles did aunts, uncles and cousins play? How were elderly members of the family cared for? And  how can you find out more about your ancestors' friends and neighbours?