This book contains the results of the first large-scale quantitative investigation of naming practices in early modern England. Scott Smith-Bannister traces the history of the fundamentally significant human act of naming one's children during a period of great economic, social, and religious upheaval. Using in part the huge pool of names accumulated by the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structures, he sets out to show which names were most commonly used, how children came to be given these names, why they were named after godparents, parents, siblings, or saints, and how social status affected naming patterns. The chief historical significance of this research lies in the discovery of a substantial shift in naming practices in this period: away from medieval patterns of naming a child after a godparent and towards naming them after a parent. In establishing the chronology of how parents came to exercise greater choice in naming their children and over the nature of naming practices, it successfully supersedes previous scholarship on this subject. Resolutely statistical and rich in anecdote, Dr Smith-Bannister's exploration of this deeply revealing subject will have far-reaching implications for the history of the English family and culture.

Journey Beyond the Narrows explores the history of an American family whose origin is traced to eleven immigrants who arrived in America in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. These individuals came through the Narrows into upper New York Harbor to begin their American journey. They were escaping famine in Ireland, poverty, political oppression, or lack of opportunity-or all three combined in Finland, Germany, and Scotland. Journey Beyond the Narrows does not provide just names and facts about these individuals but puts their lives in the context of the times in which they lived in their home countries and in America. It is the story of how two of their descendants reared six children in the Bronx, New York.

Designed for both professional and amateur genealogists and other researchers, this index provides a detailed guide to materials available in the extensive Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations microfilm set. By using this index to identify specific collections in which materials pertinent to a specific family name, plantation name, or location may be found, and then reviewing the details in the appropriate Guides (see Preface), the researcher may pinpoint the location of desired materials. The items indexed include deeds, wills, estate papers, genealogies, personal and business correspondence, account books, slave lists, and many other types of records. This new edition also includes a list of all of the manuscript collections included in the microfilm set.