Tracing Your Ancestors Through Letters & Personal Writings

A Guide for Family Historians

Ruth A. Symes

• Publisher: Pen & Sword History
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN:
  9781473855441
• Print ISBN:
  9781473855434
• Subtopic: British History

Could your ancestors write their own names or did they mark official documents with a cross? Why did great-grandfather write so cryptically on a postcard home during the First World War? Why did great-grandmother copy all the letters she wrote into letter-books? How unusual was it that great-uncle sat down and wrote a poem, or a memoir?Researching Family History Through Ancestors' Personal Writings looks at the kinds of (mainly unpublished) writing that could turn up amongst family papers from the Victorian period onwards - a time during which writing became crucial for holding families together and managing their collective affairs.With industrialization, improved education, and far more geographical mobility, British people of all classes were writing for new purposes, with new implements, in new styles, using new modes of expression and new methods of communication (e.g. telegrams and postcards). Our ancestors had an itch for scribbling from the most basic marks (initials, signatures and graffiti on objects as varied as trees, rafters and window ledges), through more emotionally charged kinds of writing such as letters and diaries, to more creative works such as poetry and even fiction.This book shows family historians how to get the most out of documents written by their ancestors and, therefore, how better to understand the people behind the words.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Titel
• Copyright
• Contents
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Getting Up Close to Personal Writings
• Chapter 1: What’s in a Name? Literacy and Signatures
• Chapter 2: ‘Given to Correspondence’: Letters and Letter-books
• Chapter 3: ‘Eight Words or Fewer’: Telegrams
• Chapter 4: ‘Personalised Pictures’: Greetings Cards and Postcards
• Chapter 5: Marshalling Memories: Diaries
• Chapter 6: ‘Humble Reminders’: Appointment Diaries and Birthday Books
• Chapter 7: Travellers’ Tales: Holiday Journals
• Chapter 8: Scribbles in the Margin: Annotation in Books
• Chapter 9: ‘Collections of Sad Crudites’: Commonplace Books
• Chapter 10: Rambling Reminiscences: Autobiographies and Memoirs
• Chapter 11: Literary Leanings: Poetry
• Bibliography