Genealogical Resources: Local History Books

Continuing my theme of digging down into your ancestors’ lives, here’s another example of a source that could turn up some information about your ancestor –  local history books or pamphlets.  Whilst most professional historians would advocate using primary sources for research, I would always encourage anyone to find out what has been published about the village or parish where their ancestors lived as it is always possible that members of your family could have been mentioned – and it could lead you to using the primary sources used.

This was proved to me quite recently when a client sent me details of what he had found about his family in a history book about the village of Offchurch in Warwickshire.  My thanks to Chris who has allowed me to copy directly from his email:

I got the history of Offchurch book today and it mentions the Page
family several times

In 1619 12d was paid to Edward Page for the mending of the Bells

In 1631 Edward Page the Churchwarden copied information about recusant’s.

In the 1655 Rent Book Widow Mary Page is described as occupying a house
and close plus 1 water corn Mill Quendon Mill and close 1 Water Mill
Offchurch Mill and three meadows.

In 1661 Edward and William Page arrange a lease but are Non-Conformists
who left the village in 1664 and were fined the same year in Leamington
Priors for attending an unlawful religious assembly.

In 1678 a Stephen Wright is mentioned as the miller at Quorndon Mill on
a 7 year lease.

When a church bell was replaced in 1681 it was inscribed “Thomas
Page..Churchwarden 1681”

In 1696 Thomas Page is paying 16 pounds 10 shillings rent, and William
Page senior 1 pound rent, and Dorothy Page 5 shillings rent.

William Page carpenter and son appear numerous times in the account
being paid for various work. The author explains that William Page was
primary a carpenter not a farmer and so only had a couple of closes.

The only Mill at this time was Quendon MIll because Offchurch Mill had
fallen into disrepair.

In the tithe maps of 1848 William Page the Miller at Quendon Mill is
listed as having 5 acres by the Mill.

This kind of information can give you details about occupation, status and places of residence – which could lead to some interesting visits to study the ‘history on the ground’ that was linked with your family.  The little snippet about non-conformism is also very useful as it could mean that the family were missing from the established parish registers and could lead you search near-by non-conformist registers.

Many libraries, county record offices, family history societies and local bookshops have local publications for sale – and you could also try looking at online book sellers such as Amazon or Ebay.

If you are visiting the parish, always have a look inside the church as you will often find little leaflets on the local parish which could contain family history information.

Look out too for books about the local trades or industries.  I know which fishing boat my great grandfather skippered thanks to a little leaflet published in the Isle of Man called “The Port St. Mary Fishing Fleet of 1886” published by Capt. Harry Watterson in 1986.

If you have had some good results from other genealogical resources, please let me know and I’ll post about it on this blog.

(Image produced with the kind permission of Warwickshire County Council)