Monday, May 16, 2016

Eyewitness

Primary documents are essential to the tree climbing genealogist.  What were the actual feelings and expressions of the ancestors being investigated?  Personal diaries and letters add to the historical context being explored.  For my own family research, the English Civil War period play an important dynamic in sorting through a fair number of brick walls.  The text below presents eyewitness accounts of folks during this period of time.


To be carried out of Basing House "...sick and naked in a blanket." (p. 203) would certainly leave an ancestor wondering "what in the world".  State Papers, diaries, and letters are used to help the reader understand many of the emotions and conflicts that affected those involved. 

John Adair first published it 1983 by Century Publishing Co Ltd.  My 1998 edition was printed and bound in Great Britain by J.H. Haynes & Co., Sparkford.  A nation divided it was.