Published by Pen & Sword
Also available from Colourpoint
Internet
search engines are all very well. They are brilliant channels into all sorts of
weird, wonderful and enlightening stuff, of course. But sometimes an actual reference
book that you can hold in your hands is just the perfect companion.
I have been
researching my father’s life story and delving into the backgrounds of his
parents and grandparents. We are going back a bit here. He was born in 1925 and
so, off we go into the 19th century to try to discover where he came
from, what made him the man he was and what parts of him influenced my
personality.
He was born
in Belfast, Northern Ireland and I have gathered some information and documents
to add pieces to this jigsaw but family research cannot be done without the
assistance of others and I want to draw your attention to a terrific book –
Tracing Your Northern Irish Ancestors – A Guide For Family Historians by Ian
Maxwell.
I tried to
do as much as I could with the obvious stuff – birth, marriage and death
certificates – but I had little or no idea of the vast amounts of other
material available to researchers and the book has opened my eyes and mind to
the sheer volume of archive material that might help me in my quest – scratch that,
WILL help me in my quest.
There are
chapters on how to begin, on census records, surveys, church and school registers,
property ownership, wills and testaments, local government files, military
records and much, much more, from physical journals and ledgers to online
resources.. From my relatively shambolic approach to my father’s story, I can
now shape a more focused plan of action thanks to the book.
One thing
that worried me about a book like this was that it would be texty and stuffy
and a tad self-important but not a bit of it. It is written well in a very
accessible style that is both reassuring and immensely encouraging to both the
amateur and professional historian.
On a recent
trip home to Belfast, I spent a couple of hours in the Public Record Office of
Northern Ireland, a brilliant building with very helpful staff and masses of
material to browse. I wasn’t sure what I
was really looking for but when I revisit, my trusty companion – this book –
will help me enormously to ask the right questions, locate relevant archives
and add more pieces to the jigsaw puzzle that is my father’s story.
It is clear
to me that Ian Maxwell’s book is essential reading if anyone out there is
interested in tracing their Northern Irish ancestors.
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