After more than two years, my book, Discover Gloucestershire Ancestors has finally gone to the printers! At least, Volume One has. There turned out to be far too much to go in one book so I have split it into two – and begin to wonder if there might even be a third volume. I have thoroughly enjoyed the research process and learnt a lot about layout and design during this, my first, self-publishing experience.
The book fills a gap in the family history market because there is no other book in print today that refers specifically to Gloucestershire and the records you can find in our beautiful county. Although necessarily the book includes mostly documents to be found at Gloucestershire Archives, it covers other sources as well.
To help the beginner get started with their family history research, the book covers basic chapters on civil registration and the censuses. Did you know there were ten Gloucestershire parishes for which a pre-1841 census with names exists? Maybe your parish of origin is one of them?
The book then leads the reader through chapters on parish registers and nonconformist records before looking in more detail at records relating to births, marriages and deaths, such as adoption, illegitimacy, irregular marriages, divorce, monumental inscriptions, suicide, etc..
Finally, this volume covers the justice system, looking at petty sessions, quarter sessions and the assizes followed by the given punishments, the inevitable incarceration in gaols and houses of correction or transportation ‘to foreign parts’.
The book, Discover Gloucestershire Ancestors, ISBN: 978-0-9571440-0-2, will be available from 1st March 2012, price £14.99 plus p&p. Check out the details on my website at:
www.hidden-heritage.co.uk/books/discover-gloucestershire-ancestors