Find Family Before 1800

Issue 135 of  Your Family Tree magazine hit the shops today. I wrote the section on medieval records for the cover feature 'Find Family Before 1800'. I also wrote the records expert article on Heraldic Visitations. You can buy copies of the magazine in all good newsagents and also direct from the website (http://www.yourfamilytreemag.co.uk/).

Trying to trace your family back before the sixteenth century can seem daunting. Unfortunately, you will find that some lines of descent are impossible to trace that far back. People changed their names or moved to unexpected places or simply went unrecorded in the records. However, by 1600 you will have had many hundreds of ancestors alive and a good proportion of these will have left a trace. Both my articles in this month's issue of Your Family Tree magazine are concerned with helping readers to trace back as far as possible With hard work and good luck you should be able to take at least one line of your family back to 1066.