I present it here because I want to remind my readers to seek out biographies of their ancestors. They probably do not have whole books written about them hundreds of years after their deaths. However, you may find that a person is included in a local biography, a town book (like a yearbook created by a proud town about their pioneers and citizens), newspaper articles, and such. There are still many books on library shelves that have not been digitalized - not scooped up by the big names in genealogy databases.
But also, in writing your family history, in putting a person in their life timeline, you may want to also explain their times - the history of the place they lived - and what it was perhaps like for your ancestor to live in them.
You of course quote and attribute the passages you use in your work.
Here are some excerpt examples from the book that are excellent.
From page 5, year 1764, in a small village just outside Chester across the Dee River.
Emma's parents were married on June 11, 1764, in Great Neston church. As the wedding was held on a Monday, it is unlikely that any relative...attended. Like many workingmen, Henry was illiterate and signed the register with an X, Mary also signed with a cross.... First babies were often conceived outside of wedlock; indeed, many communities encouraged it to preclude the disaster or marriage to an infertile wife. .... At twenty-one, Mary was a drudge in a dirty hovel, her day consumed by domestic chores, in a village populated by people who were, in the 1850's according to visitors, "as primitive as their village was secluded." At four she awoke to fetch water, light the fire, and prepare Henry's breakfast... After he left at five, she began her daily battle against the dirt that silted up the windows and covered every surface with a grimy film. (Coal dust) Outside her window lay a treeless expanse of scrub scarred by heaps of coal waste, and cheap stone cottages blacked by sooty rain. She knew that soon after she gave birth, she would be expected to work in the mine with the other women.
WHAT DAY OF THE WEEK WAS THE MARRIAGE OF YOUR ANCESTOR HELD? WHAT MONTH?
Excerpt page 6 : Emma was baptized on May 12. On the register, her name looks like 'Emy" but Emma herself always claimed it was Amy. a common name in the Kidd family. ... One in three children like Emma died within infancy, but she was born in the best season for survival; disease was more virulent from June to September, and babies died of cold from November to February. There was hard work ahead for the infants who lived. Denhall employed most children over nine or ten as cheap labor. All the girls born in Ness were, by the age of ten, pulling baskets to the surface every day, covered in dirt and regularly harassed by the men. At the end of the day, they returned home to cook and clean for their family or, as was near as likely, since many women died in childbirth, stepmother.
WAS YOUR ANCESTOR EMPLOYED IN COAL MINING? A CHILD LABORER?
Excerpts such as these, when appropriate, add color to your family history book, but also give the reader an opportunity for understanding.
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