Old Books

By Sherry Irvine, CG, FSA Scot

All my old books, nice dry ones and musty ones, are about local history – whether parishes, or towns or counties. A few books are well over 100 years old; some of them are musty and remained carefully wrapped when I don't need them. Reading my old books I sense something different. They speak from the past helping me gain a better understanding of what life was like for my ancestors.

I have been looking at some of the volumes now available in the Origins Store, and realizing that they offer a solution to any space problems or worries about mould. The store offers dozens of volumes published on CD-ROM by Archive CD Books, and they include many local history titles. Here are two.


Two Local History Titles

Lyson's Environs of London and the Towns, Villages and Hamlets within Twelve Miles of London, 5 volumes in all, are on one disk. Dates of publication were from 1796 to 1811. That is 200 years closer to the past than any modern author can get. Not only that, the description of each place contains sources and many detailed footnotes. Daniel Lyson interviewed local people, consulted original documents and read the works of historians who preceded him.

I read about Stoke Newington, three miles to the north of London. I now know how many cows were there in 1811 and who the land proprietors were in 1637. I discovered when churches were built and the names on memorials inside. I was treated to excerpts from several wills and from vestry minutes. What my ancestors experienced emerged – plague, the Civil War, and the arrival of a large number of Palatines, refugees from Germany in 1709. A few oddities were described, including the man who asked to be buried vertically, with his head nearest to the surface.

View this item in Origins Store

The Gentleman's Magazine Library, 1731 to 1868, is made up of county descriptions, three or four to a volume in alphabetical order. I read the account of Westmoreland. Much of the content is in summary form: the antiquities, topographic features, public buildings, large houses (or seats), local produce and manufactures, and eminent people. There is a long section on the public schools in the county followed by sections for each of the major towns. The focus is in these accounts is upon churches and castles and prominent families. There are miscellaneous observations such as this:

The town (Kirkby Stephen) has no magistrate but a petty constable; the people in general are hospitable, their manners are plain and open, their constitution vigorous, and their apprehension quick.

The author explains how he estimated the local population. In most places it was a factor of one public house to ten people; Appleby had 29 public houses and Penrith 52.

View these items in Origins Store


Conclusion

As genealogists we have to remember it is just about impossible to take our 20th or 21st century perspective out of our view of the past. There is always some bias we cannot escape. It is there because there are decades or centuries of human history and cultural change between us and our ancestors. On the other hand, we can partially escape the bonds of modern life by reading contemporary accounts of places and people.

There may be an added bonus. Most of us read history as part of our research. If we have been researching for many years experience has taught us that historical knowledge not only puts “flesh on bones” it offers practical research ideas.

See also:

Origins Store