Book Review: Tracing Your Ancestors: Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk & Suffolk

This guide for family historians is a re-titled and thoroughly revised edition of the 2009 Pen and Sword published book Tracing Your East Anglian Ancestors. Author Gill Blanchard has long experience in the area's genealogy having  previously worked at the Norfolk Record Office.

A first chapter, East Anglian Archives, looks at the resources the genealogist will need when researching in the region.

The following chapters, starting with a general introduction to the history and geography of the region, treats the information and resources the family historian needs in understanding the life of their ancestor. It does so by topic: work, trade and commerce, conflicts that have shaped the region, crime, the poor, migration and education. A chapter on local government describes some of the records generated through the administration of local affairs. Other chapters cover railways and the effect of urbanization on housing. A final longer chapter on religion covers the various creeds and denominations found in the region. Many of these chapters cover the topic by county and all end with sections "finding out more" and "bringing it to life."

Mention of valuable resources, sometimes quite local that would be known only to someone with in-depth knowledge of the region are scattered through the book. They are brought together in a Resource Directory at the end that includes contact details for the archives, websites and places of interest mentioned.

I'd not hesitate to recommend this book to someone starting to search their East Anglian family history, and even the experienced researcher will find it a useful reference.

Pages: 229
ISBN: 9781473859999
Published: 16th April 2018