Genealogy Methods and Techniques – Dr Karen Cummings

Genealogy Methods and Techniques offers practical guidance on how to get the most from your family history research and be confident in the results. Suitable both for beginners who want to get things right from the start, and for experienced researchers with thorny problems to solve, this book offers tips and tricks for everyone. This book takes the reader on a journey through a series of research strategies, providing guidance at every step of the way. With clear explanations, real-life case studies and over 100 tables, charts and illustrations, it will equip you to apply best practices to your own research right from the start. Whether your research focuses on an in-depth analysis of a single individual or location, or tracing multiple generations of a family tree, this guide offers the structured approach and essential tools required to achieve reliable and meaningful results. In a concise, easy-to-follow text he describes where these important records can be found and demonstrates how they can be used. Records relating to the poor laws, apprentices, the church, tithes, enclosures and charities are all covered. The emphasis throughout is on understanding their original purpose and on revealing how relevant they are for researchers today. Compelling insights into individual lives and communities in the past can be gleaned from them, and they are especially useful when they are combined with other major sources, such as the census. Your Ancestors’ Parish Records is an excellent introduction to this key area of family and local history research – it is a book that all family and local historians should have on their shelf.