Nine Generations of Farming and Family and Five Wars
When the Globe set sail on a misty morning in 1679 from London, 21-year-old Thomas Barnard was in the ship’s hold, preparing for the long voyage to America. Trading five years’ service for free land in America had seemed like a good idea at the time, but as England faded from view, Tom was already homesick for the green hills of Gloucestershire.
In A Farming Family in the New World, we follow Tom’s journey to America, and as the story unfolds, nine generations of his family flourish on American soil. From the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War through World War II, from 1679 to 2005, history comes to life in this meticulously researched book, which chronicles the history of one American family through times of peace and prosperity, poverty and war.
A Farming Family in the New World: The Barnard Family Saga in America 1679-2005 by CA Coffey is an interesting family biography. It is a family genealogy that has been researched very well. This book is geared more for this family and I think would mean much more to them than to the general reader. But if you are researching your family history this book might be able to assist you in how to search for information. Included are family pictures, a bibliography, recipes and memoriam. It is well written. Some of the information that is included is from Ancestry.com. I recommend this book for anyone working on their family history and would like some help in how to proceed. C.A. Coffey did an excellent job with this.
I really liked this book. My Great Grandmother and my great aunt came to America on a boat. I was fascinated by the details in this book that we similar to those I have heard from my own ancestors. The pictures were great and it was like looking at an old photo album that starts in black and white, but ends in color. There were also great recipes in the back as well as a memoriam. Life is American is all about the American dream. This book definitely proves it! I also liked all the farm information that was in this book. I am giving this book a 5/5. I was given a copy to review via Bostick, however all opinions are my own.
As an amateur geneologist myself, I greatly enjoyed this book. I've often thought as I searched for my own family's history that while I'm recording dates and names, I'm missing the STORY of their lives. This book did a fantastic job of bringing to life the Barnard family over the centuries. I love the fact that recipes were included to even further our feeling of who these people were. Anyone interested in history or in geneology will find this book a good read.
I received this book for free from goodreads.com but the words of this review are my own.
The story begins in 1679 when 21-year-old Thomas Barnard boards a ship in London and heads to the New World. In the years before slavery, Thomas was an indentured servant, a person that was required to work for several years in order to pay off the cost of their passage across the ocean. It then moves through nine generations of the family that begins with Thomas as they move westward, generally matching the westward expansion of the United States. In the first 200 years, the Barnard clan experiences war firsthand, but after the American Civil War, the battles are all on foreign soil. This book is far more fact than fiction, what little fiction there is in the filling in of minor details. It comes complete with illustrations of family members as the history of the descendents of Thomas Barnard are born, live their lives and then depart. Since the members of the Barnard family are mostly farmers, their lives revolve around the seasons and farm work, such as milking cows, growing and harvesting tobacco and making do with what they have. One of the high points of the story is when a television is acquired for the first time and the family is able to watch “I Love Lucy” in their own home. The story suffers from an affliction very common to autobiographies, the story is exciting to people in the family because it is about them, but not so much to others more far removed. While the United States was built by people like Thomas Barnard and his descendents, the events of their lives do not make a captivating tale to everyone outside their circle.
This book was made available for free for review purposes and this review appears on Amazon.
When the Globe set sail on a misty morning in 1679 from London, 21-year-old Thomas Barnard was in the ship’s hold, preparing for the long voyage to America. Trading five years’ service for free land in America had seemed like a good idea at the time, but as England faded from view, Tom was already homesick for the green hills of Gloucestershire. In A Farming Family in the New World, we follow Tom’s journey to America, and as the story unfolds, nine generations of his family flourish on American soil. From the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War through World War II, from 1679 to 2005, history comes to life in this meticulously researched book, which chronicles the history of one American family through times of peace and prosperity, poverty and war.
I received this book for the purpose of a fair review.
Overview: Mrs. Coffey has collected sever stories of her ancestors between these pages. Let’s see how her family will handle the New World and all of her troubles.
Likes: The Story was rather well written, leaving us to see what life was like for the Barnards. We have their recipes, and copies of their wills, to aid us on our journey.
Conclusion: It’s a great book. You’ll learn a lot, even about the Hessians that were involved in the Revolutionary War.
I received this book as part of a goodreads giveaway.
This is an interesting piece of genealogy research and the story of characters from the history of the Barnard family, from arriving in the US to modern day. A lot of research has been done in to the family background which shows as you follow from riches to rags and mass migrations across the sates.
It does jump around a bit as character appear whilst following one family member and then jump back several years to start to tell the story of person.
I was provided a free copy of this book through the Goodreads First Reads program.
This is an interesting account of the Barnard family from the arrival of Thomas Barnard in Maryland in 1679 to the present day. It covers quite a bit of ground in a little over 200 pages. I think this book will appeal mostly to members of the Barnard family for obvious reasons. However, I enjoyed reading it. It is interesting to see how a family develops and changes over the centuries, and the details are interesting, including photos and recipes.
I really enjoyed this book. Following this families history for over three hundred years was awesome. Reading this story of the happiness and struggles of the Barnard Family makes you appreciate what settlers went thru to better their families.
I really enjoyed this book. I like reading about history and how different people move around. I recommend this book to anyone who likes how a family goes thru history. I won this book on good reads.
I received a copy of this book from a goodreads giveaway. This is a well-researched book on the history of the Barnard family in America. It is most likely to be of specific interest for those wanting to learn more about the genealogy of the Barnard family. The chapters focus on specific individuals and as such move back and forth across time. If one is reading to glean family history it works well. A family tree, photographs and recipes are included.