ABM Publishing Limited Books for Beginners

Books for Beginners

Family History Books

Books for Beginners

Ancestral Trails
The best and the biggest seldom come cheap but if you can afford to buy Mark Herber’s highly acclaimed classic, you won’t regret it. Suitable for all family historians, at whatever stage they have reached.
The History Press in association with the Society of Genealogists. 874 pages
Price: £25.00

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An introduction to... British Civil Registration .
By Tom Wood. Published by the FFHS

***NOW HALF PRICE***
Price: £2.25

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Basic Facts About... Methodist Records for Family Historians
This useful booklet explains the history and organisation of the Methodist movement and its various divisions, as well as how the records were kept, and where to find them.
Price: £2.50

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Basic Facts about Archives
Susan B Lumas
Published by the FFHS

Price: £2.50

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Basic Facts about... Heraldry for Family Historians
Iain Swinnertron
Published by the FFHS

Price: £2.00

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Basic Facts About... The Wesleyan Methodist Historic Roll
The Wesleyan Methodist Historic Roll is a unique set of fifty large leather-bound volumes, which are located at Methodist Centrall Hall in Westminster. This contains the names of over one million people who donated a guinea to the Wesleyan Methodist Million Guinea Fund. This short guide explains how the taking of the roll was orgainsed, and how to access the information it contains
Price: £2.50

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Basic facts about ...Tracing Catholic Ancestry in England. Michael Gandy

Price: £2.50

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Basic Facts about... Quarter Session Records
Quarter Sessions records are among the most voluminous records held by County Record and Archive Offices. Dating from the 12th century through to 1972, when Quarter Sessions were replaced by Crown Courts, the records create a huge amount of information of interest to family and local historians.

To date, few Quarter Sessions records have been indexed in any detail, or transcribed. The aim of this booklet is to give a brief history of Quarter Sessions and then describe the main judicial and Administrative Records that may help researches to discover new and possibly totally unexpected information about their ancestors

Price: £2.50

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Basic Facts about Using Baptism Records for Family Historians
Pauline M Litton
Baptism records are important, as they often provide the only written record of an ancestor's early life. However, it has never been compulsory by law in the British Isles, although most Christian and Jewish people were baptised at some stage in their lives. This guide outlines the various types of baptism record which the family historian is likely to encounter during their research, in which type of record repository they can be found, and some of the problems and pitfalls which may occur when consulting them.

Price: £2.50

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Basic Facts about using Wills After 1858 and First Avenue House
Basic Facts about using Wills After 1858 and First Avenue House
Price: £2.50

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Basic Facts about Descendant Tracing
Tom Wood
Most of us are familiar with our living first cousins, and some of us may know our second cousins. But by the time we get back to more distant cousin ancestors - tracing their living descendants through ten generations can be quite a challenge. However, it can be very rewarding as these distant cousins may have family information or heirlooms of which we had no previous knowledge. This booklet will suggest how to start your search

Price: £2.50

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Birth and Death Certificates 1837-1969
Barbara Dixon tells us everything we could possibly want to know about these two essential English and Welsh civil registration documents

Price: £4.00

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Birth and Baptism Records for Family Historians
By Stuart A Raymond

Records of births/baptisms, marriages, and deaths/burals are vital sources for family historians. It is impossible to trace pedigrees without consulting them. Civil and parish registers are particularly important, but are not the only places where you can find relevant information. In this series, the author describes the wide range of resources available, indicating where they can be found, and how they should be used.

Published by The Family History Partnership.
Price: £4.50

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Civil Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths
Eve McLaughlin’s helpful little guide for those who are just about to begin to use our civil registration system
A McLaughlin Guide
Price: £2.00

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Collins Tracing your Family History
Collins Tracing Your Family History is an authoritative, in depth and accessible guide to tracing your ancestors. Written by genealogy expert Anthony Adolph, this book takes you step by step through the challenging, intriguing and rewarding process of discovering your family's past.

Covers the basic starting points for complete beginners, through to invaluable hints for taking your research further and how to unlock your search when the trail goes cold.

Totally up to date, it includes advice on all the latest technology and internet resources available to the amateur genealogist.
Price: £20.00

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Easy Family History
This guide is for everyone interested in their ancestors whose research has not yet begun, or is in its early stages. It offers exactly what it says on the cover. David Annal introduces all the relevant sources of information in easy steps and most logical sequence, focusing on what you really need to know. The chapters are interwoven with practical features on issues that could crop up during research: for example different spellings of your ancestor's surname.
Price: £6.99

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Family History on the Move
Family history can be relatively straightforward as long as one’s ancestors did not move around too much or change locality. However, with the mass migrations and empire building during the 19th and 20th centuries, most family trees will eventually get to those hard-to-pin-down men and women whose lives took often radical departures – and who settled in new countries or regions of the British Isles, or arrived in Britain for the first time. This book describes those movements into, within, and out of the UK from the sixteenth century to the present day, and shows readers which records to consult to track down their mobile ancestors. The chapters are interwoven with practical features on issues that could crop up during research and case studies to illustrate the sources.

Price: £6.99

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Finding Out about your Family History
We all have ancestors. As millions of people are discovering finding out about them is very satisfying. But it can be very difficult to know where to start. Fortunately this booklet gives you all the information you need to get started on this fascinating hobby.
Price: £2.99

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Genealogy for Beginners
Ancestry-tracing is fun; it brings history to life and it gives a greater sense of personal identity. Our ancestors become real people, part of each of them still living in us, their descendants. They may have been ordinary, blue-blooded or famous, but whatever they were the search itself is rewarding; while the satisfaction of knowing is permanent and a proper source of pride. Tracing a family history and gradually constructing oneÆs one unique pedigree is an absorbing hobby, a never-ending detective investigation. This book tells the beginner exactly how to set about it: how to collect information from living relatives, how to make full use of all existing clues and traditions, how and where to find written records and what information they can be expected to provide as well as the likely problems that may be encountered and possible ways to solve them. Many books have been written for the would-be genealogist but none has ever equalled the success of Arthur Willis's Genealogy for Beginners, first published in 1955, when there was no up-to-date text book on the subject. This seventh edition, published 20 years after WillisÆs death in 1983, has been completely revised and rewritten, and is once again the most up-to-date and readable guide and the best buy for today's beginner in family history.
Price: £8.99

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Grow Your Own Family Tree
An accessible, modern guide to the hugely popular art of tracing your family tree, The Story of You offers a concise and comprehensive summary of how to locate and use a range of records and information to track down your own family history.

There is information on everything from where to find census information or order a birth certificate, to finding out whether your great-great-uncle committed a disciplinary offence whilst in the army. And unlike other books on the subject, the scope of The Story of You extends far beyond Britain, to track your migrating relatives.

In ten clear and helpful chapters, Alan Stewart takes you through every aspect of researching your family history and tells stories about the memorable discoveries that ordinary people have made in their own searches. As an expert on the internet, he also offers a detailed exploration of the very best websites and current internet resources along the way.

With this book to hand, it has never been easier to find out more about our ancestors.
Price: £16.99

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Interviewing Elderly Relatives
Eve McLaughlin’s guidance on tackling this very important aspect
A McLaughlin Guide

Price: £2.00

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Introducing Family History
Stuart Raymond provides the basic guidance needed to begin your investigation into family history. He explains what sources of information are available, where to find them and how to use them.

***REDUCED PRICE***
RRP £8.95

Price: £3.95

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Making a Pedigree
A useful guide to various sources designed to help build up a pedigree. John Unett and Andrea Tanner cover subjects like wills, parish records, the holding and transfer of land, marriage settlements, Chancery Proceedings and many other aspects.
Published by the Society of Genealogists

Price: £5.95

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Marriages and Certificates in England and Wales
Another ‘all you could wish to know’ booklet by Barbara Dixon.

Price: £4.00

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Need to Know? Tracing your Family History
Need to Know? Tracing Your Family History is the essential beginner’s guide to unravelling the mystery of your family’s origins. With invaluable tips, advice and information from professional genealogist Anthony Adolph, navigating your way through the wealth of governmental, religious and more obscure records available will suddenly seem manageable. With particular emphasis on the Internet as an indispensable resource that can be your main starting point or help further your research, this book manages to simplify what can be a very intricate process, making it both highly enjoyable and ultimately rewarding and illuminating.
Price: £9.99

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No Time For Family History?
101 things to do now - at home and outside London
A McLaughlin Guide

Price: £2.00

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Parish Registers - A History and Guide
By Stuart A Raymond
Parish registers are the earliest comprehensive records of baptisms, marriages and burials in England and Wales, dating from 1538. They are still kept, despite the fact that civil registers of births, marriages and deaths have been maintained since 1837 . Parish registers are valuable sources for family and local historians, and may provide the only evidence we have for the existence of our ancestors.

The history and background of parish registers must be understood if they are to be used effectively. Researchers need to know where they can be found, what indexes are available, and, most importantly, what pitfalls to look out for. The aim of this book is to outline their history, to assess the value of the evidence they provide, and to explain how to use them.

Price: £5.95

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Registration Districts
Compiled by Ray Wiggins, this is an alphabetical list of more than 650 districts with details of counties, sub-districts and adjacent districts
Published by the Society of Genealogists

Price: £4.50

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Starting your Family History
For anyone setting out to trace their family tree, this book is the perfect starting point. Starting Your Family History is uncomplicated. It allows you to build reliable blocks of family records that begin with the present generation and work gently back through time, bringing to life the history of your ancestors.
Price: £5.99

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Starting Your Family Tree
Eve McLaughlin’s advice for the absolute beginner
A McLaughlin Guide

Price: £2.00

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The 1901 Census and How to Tackle it
A McLaughlin Guide
Price: £2.50

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The Census 1801-1911
A Guide for the internet Era.
The Census is a vital sources of information for all social and economic historians interested in the Victorian period. The editor of the Illustrated London news was absolutely right when he wrote in 1851 that 'the numbering of the people at regular intervals is a duty which the people owe to themselves, and to the generations that are to follow them'. The census can be used to study a particular family, or to undertake a total history of a particular street or parish. It is also possible to use it for regional or national studies of subjects such as the disappearance of servants, or the process of urbanisation.

The aim of this book is to provide basic information about the census for both family and local historians: how and when it was compiled, what information it provides, where it can be consulted, and how to use it.

Price: £5.95

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The Victorian Censuses
Use and interpretation
A McLaughlin Guide

Price: £3.00

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The Family Tree Detective
Tracing your ancestors in England and Wales.

"A 'must' for the bookshelf of all family historians and genealogists" - Family Tree Magazine
Price: £11.99

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Tracing Your British Ancestors
Colin Chapman, one of Britain’s most distinguished and popular family history experts explains how to begin the search for our ancestors and the types of records we are likely to encounter as we progress

Price: £3.99

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Tracing Your Family Tree
Another excellent publication. This handbook is packed with information. It is ideal for the beginner yet valuable for ‘dipping into’ at any time. Compiled by two of England’s most popular family historians, Jean Cole and John Titford
Countryside Books. 256 pages
Price: £11.95

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Tracing your Nineteenth Century Family History
It is probably easier to research family history in the nineeteenth century than for any other long period. This is due to the fact that the researcher has available two major comprehensive sources - the records of civil registration from 1837, and the census enumerators' schedules every ten years from 1841. These two sources should, in theory, enable the genealogist to trace the bare bones of his family tree without recourse to other souces. In practice, however, both sources are liable to human error, and if information cannot be found in them it must be sought in the multitude of other sources that are available. The purpose of this book is to encourage you to do just that - to go beyond the bare bones of the civil registers and censuses, and to understand how your family lived and worked, their triumphs and failures, their religion and politics, their place in society.
Price: £7.95

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Tracing Your Twentieth Century Family History.
Stuart Raymond’s guide on this often neglected subject
The souces available to the family historian researching in the twentieth century are extensive, but, with the exception of civil registration records and the 1901 census, little used. Until now there has been little serious examination of twentieth century sources from the family historian's point of view. The purpose of this book is to encourage you to go beyond the bare bones of the civil registers and census, and to work out your family's history, rather than just its genealogy.

Price: £5.95

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