In this fascinating follow-up to the highly successful Dear Francesca, Mary Contini writes to her other daughter, Olivia, to tell the story of her great-grandparents, the humble Italian shepherds who emigrated to Edinburgh and then helped to transform Britain's food culture. Sharing some of the recipes that they brought over, the tomatoes, the garlic, the sausage, the wine, this is a mouthwatering memoir of family and food. It is also a brilliant evocation of life between the wars, a triumphant story of survival against all the odds, that captures the sights and smells of Italian life and culture, at home and abroad.

The author is a journalist descendant of three generations of eminent lawyers, who made the surname famous-perhaps especially Sir Henry Curtis-Bennett, KC. She could get no further than the early 18th century so turned her attention to the distaff side with rewarding results. "A wealth of illustrations, photographs and family trees and a bibliography add interest to the lively and entertaining text." Family Tree Magazine

Kate Grenville's The Secret River was one of the most loved novels of 2006. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize and awarded the Commonwealth Writer's Prize, the story of William Thornhill and his journey from London to the other side of the world has moved and exhilarated hundreds of thousands of readers. Searching for the Secret River tells the story of how Grenville came to write this wonderful book. It is in itself an amazing story, beginning with Grenville's great-great-great grandfather. Grenville starts to investigate her ancestor, hoping to understand his life. She pursues him from Sydney to London and back, and slowly she begins to realise she must write about him. Searching for the Secret River maps this creative journey into fiction, and illuminates the importance of family in all our lives.

What were the principal causes of death in the past? Could your ancestor have been affected? How was disease investigated and treated, and what did our ancestors think about the illnesses and the accidents that might befall them? Simon Wills's fascinating survey of the diseases that had an impact on their lives seeks to answer these questions. His graphic, detailed account offers an unusual and informative view of the threats that our ancestors lived with and died of. He describes the common causes of death - cancer, cholera, dysentery, influenza, malaria, scurvy, smallpox, stroke, tuberculosis, typhus, yellow fever, venereal disease and the afflictions of old age. Alcoholism is included, as are childbirth and childhood infections, heart disease, mental illness and dementia. Accidents feature prominently - road and rail accidents, accidents at work - and death through addiction and abuse is covered as well as death through violence and war. Simon Wills's work gives a vivid picture of the hazards our ancestors faced and their understanding of them. It also reveals how life and death have changed over the centuries, how medical science has advanced so that some once-mortal illnesses are now curable while others are just as deadly now as they were then. In addition to describing causes of death and setting them in the context of the times, his book shows readers how to find and interpret patient records, death certificates and other documents in order to gain an accurate impression of how their ancestors died.

If you want to find out about Lancashire s history, and particularly if you have family links to the area and your ancestors lived or worked in the county, then this is the ideal book for you. As well as helping you to trace when and where your ancestors were born, married and died, it gives you an insight into the world they knew and a chance to explore their lives at work and at home.Sue Wilkes s accessible and informative handbook outlines Lancashire s history and describes the origins of its major industries - cotton, coal, transport, engineering, shipbuilding and others. She looks at the stories of important Lancashire families such as the Stanleys, Peels and Egertons, and famous entrepreneurs such as Richard Arkwright, in order to illustrate aspects of Lancashire life and to show how the many sources available for family and local history research can be used. Relevant documents, specialist archives and libraries, background reading and other sources are recommended throughout this practical book. Also included is a directory of Lancashire archives, libraries and academic repositories, as well as databases of family history societies, useful genealogy websites, and places to visit which bring Lancashire s past to life. Sue Wilkes s book is the essential companion for anyone who wants to discover their Lancashire roots. REVIEWS ...an essential companion... identifies what records to look at, why, what indexes may exist and where they will be located.FGS Forum"

The Paston family of Norfolk, England, has long been known to medieval scholars for its large collection of personal correspondence, which has survived five centuries. Until now, however, they have remained virtually unknown to the general reading public. Revealing a wealth of information about the manners, morals, lifestyles, and attitudes of the late Middle Ages, the letters also tell a story of three generations of the fifteenth-century Paston family that reads like a historical novel full of memorable characters:

• Margaret Paston, the indomitable wife and mother who fought the family's battles;

• her husband, John Paston I, tough, hardheaded, and thrice confined to Fleet Prison but never yielding to his enemies;

• daughter Margery, who scandalized family and friends by falling in love with the Paston bailiff, Richard Calle;

• lighthearted, chivalric Sir John; and

• cheerful, sensible John Ill, who against all odds succeeded in marrying for love.

A Medieval Family traces the family history from 1420, through the stormy Wars of the Roses, to the early 1500s. The family's story, extracted from their letters and papers and told largely in their own words, shows a side of history rarely revealed: the lives and fortunes not of kings and queens but of ordinary people with problems, tragedies, and moments of happiness.

A Journey of Voices: Stewards of the Land is the second book in Diane McAdams Gladow's nonfiction series about common, ordinary families who lived American History and in some cases helped to make it. This book tells the story of the Crume family by interweaving old letters, pictures, land documents, Bible records, and historical references with an account of the family's life and movement through seven generations. The story of this family is truly the story of American history from 1746 to 1946 and the story of American agricultural life and how it changed over two hundred years. Whether flatboating in the frigid winter weather down the Ohio River, building homes in the wilderness, fighting in the American Revolution, enduring the Civil War in a border state, dealing with Indians in Texas, surviving the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, and experiencing the misery and uncertainty of two world wars, this family lived it all. Come see America's history through their eyes and voices as they struggle to build lives on the land in a bold new country.

In The Lion's Pride, Edward J. Renehan, Jr. vividly portrays the grand idealism, heroic bravery, and reckless abandon that Theodore Roosevelt both embodied and bequeathed to his children and the tragic fulfillment of that legacy on the battlefields of World War I. Drawing upon a wealth of previously unavailable materials, including letters and unpublished memoirs, The Lion's Pride takes us inside what is surely the most extraordinary family ever to occupy the White House. Theodore Roosevelt believed deeply that those who had been blessed with wealth, influence, and education were duty bound to lead, even perhaps especially if it meant risking their lives to preserve the ideals of democratic civilization. Teddy put his principles, and his life, to the test in Spanish American war, and raised his children to believe they could do no less. When America finally entered the "European conflict" in 1917, all four of his sons eagerly enlisted and used their influence not to avoid the front lines but to get there as quickly as possible. Their heroism in France and the Middle East matched their father's at San Juan Hill. All performed with selfless some said heedless courage: Two of the boys, Archie and Ted, Jr., were seriously wounded, and Quentin, the youngest, was killed in a dogfight with seven German planes. Thus, the war that Teddy had lobbied for so furiously brought home a grief that broke his heart. He was buried a few months after his youngest child. Filled with the voices of the entire Roosevelt family, The Lion's Pride gives us the most intimate and moving portrait ever published of the fierce bond between Teddy Roosevelt and his remarkable children.

The Lion's Pride is the first book to tell the full story of Theodore Roosevelt and his family in World War I. It is both a poignant group biography and an insightful study of the Rooseveltian notion of noblesse oblige.

This title helps the reader understand how to go about researching their family tree, starting with the basics. This practical book will have you achieving immediate results using: a friendly, visual approach simple language practical, task-based examples large, full-colour screenshots. Discover everything you want to know about using online tools and services to research your family history in this easy-to-use guide; from the most essential tasks that you'll want to perform, to solving the most common problems you'll encounter.

Hancox is the Tudor hall house in rural Sussex where Charlotte Moore grew up, and where she lives today. It's been in the family since her ancestor Milicent Ludlow, young, single and an orphan, took it on in 1891 and began to enlarge the house and manage the farm. Hancox tells the story of the house and the family over the following thirty years, in the long run-up to the First World War. In one sense it's a rural idyll: the arrival of the car disturbs this peaceful agrarian world, but apart from that the rhythms of the countryside go on as they had for centuries before. But all was not quite as it seemed: Milicent made a distinguished marriage but her husband harboured a secret. Milicent herself gradually succumbed to religious fanaticism. And the death of the youngest boy at Ypres devastated the family, bringing the idyll to a painful end. Using extraordinary archive material held at Hancox today, Charlotte Moore weaves an Edwardian tale of madness and jealousy, love and loss, heroism and tragedy.

Just who were Frank and Jesse James?Their daring adventures have captured America's imagination for over a century. To some they were blood-thirsty outlaws leaving a trail of destruction; to others they were folk heroes. As years go by, the bottomless, black bog of time makes it increasingly difficult to separate fact from legend. While all the pieces of the puzzle may never be found, author Jerry Tidwell has scoured archives, internet sources and family stories to present a compelling picture of two of America's most wanted men. Using his folksy humor and down-to-earth narrative, Mr. Tidwell has taken the time to extensively research the brothers' ties to the Shoals area of North Alabama and surrounding countryside. Included in this research is a wealth of genealogical information that will prove invaluable to history lovers.Anecdotes, genealogies and entertaining family stories captivate the reader and chronicle the James clan's history. In fact, many people who have claimed a connection to these infamous outlaws will find this book to be a treasure in attempting to connect their roots to that of the prolific James family. Of course, in addition to the wealth of historical information, there's plenty of good storytelling for those who are purely drawn to the excitement and mystery associated with two of America's most notable felons.Separating fact from legend is a difficult task, but as Mr. Tidwell shares in this fascinating read: Includes the play "The Muscle Shoals Robbery-The Beginning of the End of the James Gang"

This genealogy is a study in the old world as well as the new. Extensive references have been given, countless books have been consulted, nearly all procured from New England Historical and Genealogical Society, and to "Colonial Families," compiled by the New York Historical Society. The author depended on printed records, and when authorities differed, a conclusion was reached by critical comparison and the weighing of evidence. Many family records never printed before have been used. Mrs. Rixford, a noted genealogist and author of several works, including "Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors and War Service," has traced from Cerdic, first of the West Saxon Kings, 495, through Alfred the Great, 849, Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, King Henry I, II and III, King Edward I, II and III, also many other royal lines through Charlemagne, Louis I, Earls of Warren, Dukes of Normandy, Royal House of Portugal, House of Capet, Counts of Anjou, Kings of Jerusalem, and many other royal families too numerous to name. She has also included several Mayflower lines connected to all members of the Vermont Society of Mayflower Descendants, who are direct descendants of these lines. Those with ancestry to the Earls of Warren have been connected up to the royal families. The book also includes the ancestry of Gen. George Washington, the first President of the United States, traced back 1,000 years to the Earl of Orkney Isles, the founder of the Washington family. It also contains the ancestry of Gen. Nathaniel Greene, who ranked next in military fame to George Washington. Other families addressed in this volume include: Aquitaine, Angouleme, Anjoy, Baskerville, Beauchamp, Bray, Bulkeley, Capet, Castille, Cheney, James Chilton, Francis Cooke, Courtenay, Rixford, De Vere, Farleigh-Hungerford, Devereux, Douglas, Drake, Eaton, Ferrers, Fitz-Alan, Flanders, Graves, Greene, Gregory, Hainault, Heydon, Johnson, William Latham, Lawrence (John and Isaac), Lisle, Marshall, Milbourne, Moore, Mowbray, Phelps, Port, Province, Rogers, Russell, Seymour, De Spineto, Smith and Georges, Sir Henry Smith, Stanley, Throckmorton, Tailefer, Vermandois, Warren, Washburn, Washington, Winnington (Wynnington), Gov. Thomas Welles, Whitney, William the Conqueror, Winslow, and Wyne.