Your LETTERS
Inspired into action
I really enjoyed reading David Annal’s article ‘Getting to Grips with Family Reconstruction’ in the March issue. (Yes I know – I am a little bit behind!).
With two lines of my family, I had got as far as listing people’s baptisms, marriages and burials from parish records. I had even colour-coded them to make the lists easier to read. But then I think I sat back and admired my handiwork. I have always loved using spreadsheets, and making them look as pretty (and useful) as possible. Now, however, thanks to David’s advice I can do something more constructive with all this information.
Like so many good ideas, it is disarmingly simple. Why hadn’t I thought of it before? I am so impatient to put his good advice into practice that I was torn between starting immediately – and writing to you. I chose the latter as it only took a couple of minutes. The former will take significantly longer, but oh boy it’s going to be fun!
I always learn something new in Family Tree, but it is rare that I read an article that inspires me so much into immediate action.
Robert Nield
Editor: We’re delighted to hear it was so helpful. Enjoy your new research project!
Further to fiction
Kim Cook’s article on books (FT April) made an interesting read and I was pleased to see some of my favourite authors and a few new ones too. I was a little surprised that Thomas Hardy didn’t get a mention. His Wessex novels are surely compulsory reading for those of us with ancestors in rural Somerset and Dorset in the 19th century.
Among my other favourite authors whose works have interesting details of social history are Norah Lofts, many of whose books feature the fictional ‘Baildon’, otherwise Bury St Edmunds, ranging from Roman times to the 1960s.
Less well known is A.G. Street who wrote several novels about farming in also has a very descriptive section devoted to farming in Canada, describing the Homestead system of land allocation. In a similar vein by Patrick Gale is a fictionalised biography of the author’s great-grandfather, who emigrated to Canada early in the 20th century and took up farming there, also taking advantage of the Homestead system. Fascinating!
