Latin is the language of a vast quantity of untouched source material. Despite the widespread popular interest in research into local and family history there has been no recent text book to help the beginner to cope with the great barrier preventing access to that wealth of information ... medieval Latin. This book remedies the omission. It embodies the author's experience as a university teacher of Latin examination in the local history certificate courses which he organised. After dealing with the basic grammar of Latin, this very practical book examines the structure and vocabulary of the records used in local and family research, including episcopal visitations, church court records, sepulchral inscriptions, wills, manorial court rolls, charters and deeds. A final chapter explains the abbreviations used in medieval Latin. The Book is complete in itself and contains all the necessary tables of declensions and conjugations plus a glossary of more than eight hundred words. The Book is uniquely 'user-friendly'. The tempo of instruction is slow; the passages for translation are carefully graded for grammar and vocabulary and selected both for their intrinsic interest and for their representative character. The author believes that, although Latin cannot be made simple, it is nevertheless manageable. The reader who works systematically through the book will be equipped to handle the Latin of the documents encountered by the do-it-yourself local or family historian. Following the enormous success of his earlier Manorial Records (1992), the author has now furnished the research with another invaluable guide to fill an even more fundamental gap in the 'how-to-do-it' library. All previous, partial attempts to deal with the problems of medieval Latin sources are totally eclipsed by this welcome primer - both comprehensive and easy to use.

This illuminating guide to discovering your Scottish family history has been fully revised and updated to take account of changes to resources and methods for researching your Scottish ancestry over the last few years. Accessible in style and comprehensive in coverage, this new edition stresses the importance of traditional methods of family history research while also embracing the exciting possibilities afforded by new technologies, sources and developments in genetic science. Indispensable to both the fledgling researcher and the more experienced family history specialist in Scotland or elsewhere, this book provides a guide to the very latest resources available to assist with research. Covering Scottish primary and secondary sources in full detail, this book also provides illustrative case studies of family history research, lists of useful websites and archives, and family history organisations and societies. Highlights of this new edition: *An updated chapter dedicated to aspects of recording, scanning and storing information *New insight into accessing English, Irish, emigrant and immigrant records *An update on developments in DNA genetics of relevance to the genealogist *A substantial and broad-ranging bibliography essential for those who want to take their research even further.

In the quest to uncover our family history, we turn to written records, the family album and even heirlooms. However, they can often be difficult to interpret and sometimes pose more questions than they answer: Why didn't my ancestors smile for the camera? Why did great-grandfather wear a beard while his sons were clean-shaven? Why is my great-grandmother holding flowers in this photograph? Drawing on evidence from social history, women's history, and the histories of photography, art and fashion, and using examples from the lowly as well as the famous, Ruth Symes explores many aspects of ordinary life in the past - from the state of the nation's teeth, to the legal and economic connotations of wearing a wedding ring and even the business of keeping a dog. This fascinating volume aims to help family historians get to know their elusive ancestors by deciphering the wealth of personal and historical clues contained in photographs, documents and artefacts.

'A tender and heart-breaking story with a shocking family secret at its centre...I was weeping happy tears at the end' Saskia Sarginson One crisp and bright Mothering Sunday, Alexandra Abbott's now elderly mother, Elizabeth, reveals a secret that she has kept buried for over 50 years... April 1963: Aspiring artist Kitty Campbell has recently given birth to her first child in a mother and baby home. Kitty is to give her baby away for adoption but, when the day comes, she can't bring herself to part with her tiny daughter. In desperation, Kitty flees. She stops at a tea shop to feed her hungry baby and meets the owner, Bet - a mother with her own heartache to bear. But Bet is kind to Kitty, holding the baby and offering a listening ear. Then Kitty makes a decision that will change all their lives for ever. Several decades later, can the truth from that day finally right the past and bring a mother and daughter together? A heart-rending family drama perfect for fans of Fern Britten, Rachel Hore and Dilly Court. "Full of insight and wisdom, Mothering Sunday is an inspirational story with uplifting messages about family love, belonging and second chances... the perfect gift for your own special mum" Lancashire Post

An author's quest to discover what really happened to his uncle in World War II To all appearances, Anthony "Tony" Korkuc was just another casualty of World War II. A gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress, Korkuc was lost on a bombing mission over Germany, and his family believed that his body had never been recovered. But when they learned in 1995 that Tony was actually buried at Arlington National Cemetery, his nephew Bob Korkuc set out on a seven-year quest to learn the true fate of an uncle he never knew. Finding a Fallen Hero is a compelling story that blends a wartime drama with a primer on specialized research. Author Bob Korkuc initially set out to learn how his Uncle Tony came to rest at Arlington. In the process, he also unraveled the mystery of what occurred over the skies of Germany half a century ago. Korkuc dug up military documents and private letters and interviewed people in both the United States and Germany. He tracked down surviving crewmembers and even found the brother of the Luftwaffe pilot who downed the B-17. Dozens of photographs help readers envision both Tony Korkuc's fateful flight and his nephew's dogged search for the truth. A gripping chronicle of exhaustive research, Finding a Fallen Hero will strike a chord with any reader who has lost a family member to war. And it will inspire others to satisfy their own unanswered questions.

In My Family, British-born Victor Epaphroditus tells the story of his family and the country of his parents, Nigeria in West Africa, where he has also lived before returning to the UK. Otherwise known as Goke Daramola, Victor writes about the Daramola family and their lives, the challenges they have faced and their cultural influences. From his early life and upbringing to that of his uncles, aunties, siblings and maternal and paternal grandparents, Victor shares his belief in the significance of family values and the strength they provide.