The Street-wise Guide To Doing Your Family History
Lady Teviot
Edward Everett Root Publishers Co. Ltd.
EER
About this book
This unusual book stands out in a crowded field.
- It provides practical, expert, insider-knowledge.
- It includes a full guide to current websites.
- It offers many tips, short-cuts and helps to access the evidence you need. And to understandings of what this means.
- It is rooted in the many years of day-to-day enquiries in family history by the noted international expert Lady Teviot.
- It will be invaluable to the beginner and of great value to the more knowledgeable.
- It will help you rapidly to become ‘street-wise’ in what will be a complex but fascinating personal endeavour.
Contents: Preface. 1 Introduction. “One day I will”, or how I began as a family historian. 2 Establishing the General Register Office. 3 UK Census returns. 4. From the parish registers. 5. The parish chest. 6. Underused sources for genealogical research. 7. Kill or cure: medicine and health in the 19th century. 8. Baby farming. 9. Lunatic asylums. 10. Workhouses. 11. Hospital records. 12. Wills and administration. 13. Genealogical geography. 14. Sight unseen. 15. Emigration and immigration. 16. Guide to Websites
About the author
Lady (Mary) Teviot is an internationally known expert on family history research. She was President of the Federation of Family History Societies from 2001 to 2011 and is now a lifetime Vice-President. She is also Chairman of the Friends of the Keep Archives in Brighton, and she is a member of the Council of the British Records Association.
Lady Teviot has featured in several of the very successful ‘Heir Hunters’ series on BBC1 television. Her company is Census Searches Ltd, a professional genealogical research firm which provides research into family history, probate and media research. Lady Teviot also undertakes lecture tours in Canada and Australia, and has also toured South Africa, USA and New Zealand. In 1965 Lady Teviot married the Honourable Charles John Kerr, who three years later succeeded his father as Baron Teviot in the House of Lords.
Reviews
"Lady Teviot has distilled over half a century's experience of family history research into this detailed yet highly approachable guide. Her style engages the reader from the outset, and succeeds in conveying a wealth of information through combining clearly-presented fact with details of her own genealogical journey, which has taken her from a beginner to a researcher with an international reputation. Every aspect of family history is covered, with hints and short cuts which will smooth the beginner's path in what can be a treacherous field. And don't think this book is just for the inexperienced – I have been working with records for over 40 years and as well as enjoying some new family history anecdotes, learnt much about the record sources which some of us take for granted. You may not be a Street-wise genealogist when you embark on this book, but you certainly will be when you finish it."
Christopher Whittick, East Sussex County Archivist.
"Over 50 years being a family historian and professional genealogist is explored in what is a very readable and highly informative book, published as one of a series of Street-wise guides by EER.
The adjective ‘Streetwise’ according to one online dictionary means: ‘….having the shrewd awareness, experience, and resourcefulness needed for survival in a difficult, often dangerous urban environment….’ This book certainly lives up the first part of the definition- how to deal shrewdly and resourcefully with the problems encountered when carrying out family history research.
Lady Teviot is well known from her association with the FFHS – former President and now life Vice-President- and her lectures especially overseas. This book distills the wisdom and information contained in those talks.
The format is interesting. Part is in effect an autobiography, referring to her experiences and those of her husband, Lord Teviot, in their family history researches. Part is an explanation of sources, which are regularly used by family history researchers: parish registers, censuses, the parish chest. However, the bulk of the book concentrates on sources and facts which will be unknown to most of its readers. The Chapters on Underused Sources of Genealogical Research, as well as those on Medicines and Illnesses, Baby Farming, Workhouses, Lunatic Asylums and Hospitals are quite a revelation.
In the chapter entitled ‘Sight Unseen’ the author gives a very good appraisal and overview of how Websites can assist the researcher, who uses the internet and a selection of Key Websites concludes the book. Almost worth buying for these chapters alone.
The book will appeal to researchers at all levels: everyone who reads it will learn something new and it will assist them to carry out their hobby in new directions. A first class read!"
David Lambert - Federation of Family History Societies, UK.
In The News - The Argus
https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/16610454.genealogist-mary-teviot-launches-new-book/