Book Review: Wiltshire Through Time by Steve Wallis

The idea of this 'Through Time' series of books is to have an old photo that is the compared to a new photo of the same subject. Often the time between photos is at least 100 years.

The author has tried to take an identical photo as the historical image, but of course, this isn't always possible - but he's done a great job.

The book first looks at Wiltshire's only city, Salisbury, before heading North through towns and then back down South visiting the villages. These chapters are followed by photographs displaying Life in Wiltshire and finally Countryside and Historic Features. In between each set of photos there is a brief description of where in the county the place is, as well as anything of historical interest.

I really enjoyed this book, but it made me realise three things, firstly the format of the book is too small - meaning descriptions and photograph size are limited. Secondly, there are some places in Wiltshire that have barely changed in over a hundred years (which I find amazing). Thirdly, I want more! With the book being 93 pages, there may only be 1 historic photo of each place, although sometimes 2-3 for major settlements. So, the next in the series I'll be reading is Devizes. I hope it's just as good as this one.

Book Review: Your Family Tree Online by Graeme Davis

This is the second book I've read by Graeme Davis and have to admit that the other book was of much better quality. I would say that this particular book is purely for novice genealogists as most of the chapters are very brief introductions to a topic, for instance the chapters on newspaper and directories. However, there are more detailed chapters on topics such as DNA and working with names. In some ways, I wished I'd have known about this book when I first started with family history research - as I know I'd have appreciated this book at that point.

There are very few internet resources listed in this book, but those that are included are of good quality. They are often associated with the activities that are included throughout the book for the reader to find out more about their family. One such activity is to understand your ancestor's job and two links are provided that should help the reader find out more.

As with the previous book of Davis' that I reviewed, this book is very readable and accessible. If you've read other genealogy books, then this book isn't likely to help you progress your research. However, if you're new to this field of study or if you've ever read a genealogy book - then this is a great place to start.

YouTube: Barefoot Genealogist

The first resource I'd like to share is that of the Barefoot Genealogist.  Crista Cowan aka the Barefoot Genealogist has been creating helpful videos via Ancestry.com on YouTube.

Some things to bare in mind are that these videos are created for a US audience and users of Family Tree Maker / Ancestry.com, but saying that most of the tips and methology are relevant for anyone making a family tree regardless of the technology they use.

The videos tend to last between 20 to 30 minutes with topics ranging from 'Back to basics' (see below) to 'Proving Native American Ancestry', so there should be enough for most people to get started and perhaps break through any brick walls they are currently facing.

I've embedded Crista's playlist below starting from Genealogy 101, which is a great video to help you get started or refresh some techniques:

Do you have any great YouTube resources you'd like to share? Let me know in the comments!