Solving Genealogy Problems: How to Break Down Brick Walls and Build Your Family Tree

by Graeme Davis

This text is for those who have done some work on their family tree but have hit the inevitable problem of 'brick walls'. Unlike most genealogy books this one starts with the 1801 census - others imply that that the census started in 1841.

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2011

About the author

Dr. Graeme J. Davis (born 1965) is an English linguist at the University of Buckingham. He holds a PhD in Anglo-Saxon from the University of St Andrews. He has lectured at the Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Northumbria and the Open University.

He is tutor for the University of Buckingham’s Stonehenge MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) and is editor of The Buckingham Journal of Language and Linguistics, which has developed from earlier journals edited by Dr. Davis, including Journal of Language and Linguistics and Lingua et Linguistica. He is series editor of two Peter Lang monograph series, Contemporary Studies in Descriptive Linguistics and Studies in Historical Linguistics. He is also academic advisor to the Fara Heim project for academic research around the history and archaeology of Hudson Bay and the Canadian Arctic.

His research interests include the mediaeval Germanic languages and cultures of the North Atlantic region. His book Contemporary Studies in Old English and Old Icelandic was supported by a British Academy research grant and by the University of Iceland. The Early English Settlement of Orkney and Shetland examines the cultural and linguistic background of the Northern Isles, while Vikings in America sets out the story of the Norse discovery and settlement of North America. Lexicographic work includes Dictionary of Surrey English, while the discipline of surname study has been developed in Research Your Surname and Your Family Tree. An author of more than two dozen books and dozens of articles, Dr. Davis has produced both primary research and popular accounts which seek to make scholarship accessible to a wide audience.

Reviews

[Abbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very useful and gave me lots of ideas as to how to progress past the dreaded 'brick wall'. Well written and easy to follow. One problem, which is no fault of the author, is that it is now 3 years since it was published, and genealogy is fast changing, some of the recommended sites no longer exist. It would be nice to see an updated edition in a year or so, as I believe it is a great book with much relevance.

[Janice White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a very helpful book. It gave me some ideas of sources to check beyond the usual websites etc. Very well set out making it easy to use as a reference tool.

[Mhd]

England focus. Sample is interesting. Mostly organized by record type. Would be a review overall, but still interesting…might have some surprises for me.