Tracing Your Ancestors Using What They Left Behind: A Guide for Family Historians

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Simon Wills

Tracing Your Ancestors Using What They Left Behind

A Guide for Family Historians

Simon Wills

$49.99

Paperback

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English

Pen and Sword
01 March 2026

Family history, tracing ancestors

Old photographs without names. Family heirlooms with unknown origins. Objects whispering stories lost to time. In this fascinating journey of historical detective work, experienced genealogist Simon Wills pieces together the mysteries behind everyday artefacts, from portraits and tobacco jars to diaries, and even a simple silver cigarette case, allowing us to create a complete picture of the lives of those lost to history and time. Through meticulous research, many examples and case studies, this book delves into incomplete histories, revealing the identities and achievements of people once on the brink of anonymity. If you've ever wondered about the past behind an old family possession, this book will inspire you to look closer, search deeper, and discover the extraordinary tales sometimes hidden in the seemingly ordinary, allowing us to know and understand our ancestors from a different perspective.

AUTHOR: Dr Simon Wills is a genealogist, historian and journalist and a regular contributor to Family Tree, the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? and other magazines. He writes mainly about maritime history and genealogy, but he also has a special interest in health and disease in the past. He has given presentations and interviews all around the UK for history, genealogy and literary festivals, and for organisations such as the BBC, National Trust and National Archives. His most recent publications include a guide to maritime photographs, Tracing Your Seafaring Ancestors, and a popular account of our forebears' illnesses, How Our Ancestors Died.

50 b/w illustrations

By: Simon Wills
Imprint: Pen and Sword
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781036191825
ISBN 10: 1036191826
Pages: 224
Publication Date: 01 March 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Unspecified

Dr SIMON WILLS is a genealogist, historian and journalist and a regular contributor to Family Tree, the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? and other magazines. He writes mainly about maritime history and genealogy, but he also has a special interest in health and disease in the past. He has given presentations and interviews all around the UK for history, genealogy and literary festivals, and for organisations such as the BBC, National Trust and National Archives. His most recent publications include a guide to maritime photographs, Tracing Your Seafaring Ancestors, and a popular account of our forebears' illnesses, How Our Ancestors Died.

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Tracing Your Ancestors Using What They Left Behind

A Guide for Family Historians

Simon Wills

$49.99

Paperback

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