Media: BOOK - paperback, 208 pages
Author: R. Symes
Year: 2016
ISBN: 9781473862944
Other: b&w photos, bibliog, index
Publisher: Pen & Sword

The intriguing characters in these real family history mysteries include an agricultural labourer who left secrets behind in Somerset when he migrated to Manchester, a working-class woman who bafflingly lost ten of her fourteen children in infancy, a miner who purportedly went to 'live with the Red Indians' and a merchant prince of the Empire who was rumoured to have two wives. 

This book show how a variety of sources including birth, marriage and death certificates, censuses, newspaper reports, passports, recipes books, trade directories, diaries and passenger lists were all used to uncover more, and how much can be detected by setting the characters from your family tree in their proper historical backgrounds.

Contents:
Acknowledgements
Introduction
- Stories from your family tree
- Ancestors within living memory
- How to use this book
- Resources to take your further
1. 'He didn't come from round here;: Migration within Britain
- The story
- Key source: commercial and trade directories
- Resources to take you further
2. 'Great-Great-Granny was a Rum 'Un': Poverty and disease
- The story
- Key source: birth, marriage and death certificates
- Resources to take you further
3. 'So poor, they took in lodgers': Working-class living conditions
- The story
- Key source: the census
- Resources to take you further
4. 'Coal and canals polished them off': The dangers of industrial towns
- The story
- Key source: local newspapers
- Resources to take you further
5. 'Daddy saw it all': the Second World War
- The story
- Key source: diaries
- Resources to take you further
6. 'She had a really good send off': Death and burial
- The story
- Key source: records related to death (particularly obituaries)
- Resources to take you further
7. 'We come alive behind shop counters': Working for big companies
- The story
- Key source: company newsletters and company archives
- Resources to take you further
8. 'Great-Grandfather lived with the Red Indians': Emigration to America
- The story
- Key source: passenger lists
- Resources to take you further 
9. 'Grandfather owned a piece of gold': The British Empire and immigration
- The story
- Key source: passports
- Resources to take you further
10. 'She supported the family': Domestic service
- The story
- Key source: oral history
- Resources to take you further
11. 'He always had his nose in a book': Cultural tastes and family relationships
- The story
- Key source: books and the family bible
- Resources to take you further
12. 'You are what they are': Geography, culture, religion and wealth
- The story
- Key source: recipes, food and eating habits
- Resources to take you further
Bibliography
Index