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With my biological family, I am descended from a convict who settled in the southern part of NSW and many of his descendants didn't move from there until recently (last 20-30 years). There was one book written about the convict and his descendants in the mid 50s (haven't read). In the last 20 years, there have been 3 family history books written and have included lists of descendants (about 3000 or so over 150 years). They seem fairly accurate as far I can tell. Looking at my direct family tree, there are a lot of "local" names included - they seemed to mostly marry locally for about 100 or so years - my grandparents are 3rd cousins via both their paternal and maternal trees. I actually ordered the books before making contact and it was nice to see a lot of pictures in there including some of my bmother (who died early). (Btw my bfamily have welcomed me with oopen arms and included me in genealogical activities)
Also, even though the following isn't quite a genealogy book, one distant relative recently wrote a book detailing the lives of everyone who was buried in one of the cemeteries in the above region. Many of the people are related to each other and lived in three 3 tiny towns near the cemetery and it really gives an insight into the lives of some of the locals over the last century or so.
I have a book I think was published in the 70's on my mothers family. I also have a letter from my Aunt claiming there are errors in the book. I think the jist of it is pretty good and I am still researching her claims of errors.
One thing I have noticed on ancestry.com is there seem to be a lot of people willing to make leaps that connect them to prestigious or royal families without a lot of data to back it up.
Sometimes what I think is a leap turns out to be correct when I do the research myself. Sometimes I cant figure how they made the leap.
It's funny because I never set out to 'connect" any of my families to royalty. However, when I researched my mum's family (just to point out that this post is about my adoptive mother - my previous post was about bfamily), I discovered that mum is related to royalty. I had discovered a while ago that her great great great great grandfather had started a merchant bank in the mid 18th century (I won't name it but it became infamous in the mid 90s when it was sent bankrupt by a rogue trader). Anyway, the other week, another friend online was talking about their family tree so I had another look on the abovementioned merchant banker's Wikipedia entry and discovered that he was also the great great great great grandfather of Princess Di, making mum and Princess Di 5th cousins.
Well, it's not like everyone who ever lived in an entire county was mentioned in detail in those type of books - mostly, only the most prominent members of the community would get lots of mention, and everyone else, if they got a mention at all, it would only be brief. It sounds pretty normal for ancestors who weren't prominent members of the community. Doesn't mean they didn't exist.
Oh, I definitely agree that one could exist and not be ever mentioned somewhere.
However, I suppose what started me doing some intensive reading and searching was a long told family story about a tragic demise of a first husband. I always carried it close to my dramatic little heart. I figured when I started doing research that that would be the easiest thing to find in records. Instead, the lack of information on a prominent event started to raise some serious questions on things and then the total disappearance of the family to all corners of the country during the time period raised even more. It is odd to think that with the most basic item being reported in Midwest papers that no one even said "well, the so and so family absconded in the middle of the night and with good cause.."
The lack of wedding announcements, birth announcements, deaths, etc the standard thing that people would put in the paper etc, no matter how small the place was that they lived in or how long they had been there struck me as odd . Coupled with the fact that my quiet little grandmother would always say "Don't Make Headlines" . I think she made some headlines and I think someone erased a lot of history. It has been through backdoor avenues that I have discovered any number of things that make for a rollicking story of a most-peculiar family. Who have the most awful-financial luck known to man....ah, every day I understand these guys better and better and love them dearly. They will appear in a book - but it'll be under my authorship
I have a book that was published about the life of one of my female ancestors that left Germany in the 1800's and eventually became the head of the German department at Wellesley College in Boston, Massachusetts. I contacted the archives department and they sent me three manila folders full of her papers. Barbara Bush served as its commencement speaker there in 1990 and when Hillary Clinton was a student there she became head of the local chapter of the Young Republicans.
Btw Paddington is now a very trendy and expensive suburb - it would be rare to find a terrace for under $1 million.
It was a good surprise for Mom. Made her cry actually. She cherished that book though.
Mom went back for the last time in 2008 to see her sisters and brothers and she went to Paddington...a nostalgia trip of sorts. She said it had changed a lot but she still recognized it. I checked out real estate there, just for grins, and oh my!! You're right...it's expensive!
I have a book that was published about the life of one of my female ancestors that left Germany in the 1800's and eventually became the head of the German department at Wellesley College in Boston, Massachusetts. I contacted the archives department and they sent me three manila folders full of her papers. Barbara Bush served as its commencement speaker there in 1990 and when Hillary Clinton was a student there she became head of the local chapter of the Young Republicans.
I once received a small box full of papers pertaining to one of my great granddad's nephews who migrated to Oregon in about 1854. The University of Oregon had them in their library. What a lot of stuff! Many letters written back and forth to a good friend of his who served with him in the Oregon Territorial Legislature and VERY hotly political. He was, to say the least, passionate about his politics. He even bought his own newspaper so he could pontificate to his hearts content. lol The box had business records galore since he owned a general store/livery stable/hotel, a cattle and sheep ranch and the newspaper. One thing he was for sure, was a huge proponent of slavery. He really believed that it was slavery that made this country great. The box also had copies of the family Bible and led to another brick wall. His mother was my great granddad's sister but no mention of a husband and all the kids carried her maiden name.
Oh, I definitely agree that one could exist and not be ever mentioned somewhere.
However, I suppose what started me doing some intensive reading and searching was a long told family story about a tragic demise of a first husband. I always carried it close to my dramatic little heart. I figured when I started doing research that that would be the easiest thing to find in records. Instead, the lack of information on a prominent event started to raise some serious questions on things and then the total disappearance of the family to all corners of the country during the time period raised even more. It is odd to think that with the most basic item being reported in Midwest papers that no one even said "well, the so and so family absconded in the middle of the night and with good cause.."
The lack of wedding announcements, birth announcements, deaths, etc the standard thing that people would put in the paper etc, no matter how small the place was that they lived in or how long they had been there struck me as odd . Coupled with the fact that my quiet little grandmother would always say "Don't Make Headlines" . I think she made some headlines and I think someone erased a lot of history. It has been through backdoor avenues that I have discovered any number of things that make for a rollicking story of a most-peculiar family. Who have the most awful-financial luck known to man....ah, every day I understand these guys better and better and love them dearly. They will appear in a book - but it'll be under my authorship
That's not really what the type of books mentioned in the OP are about though. I assumed the OP was talking about books written about some of the founding members of a community/county, not scandalous or unusual happenings. They are books about the development of a community and therefore the important people who helped develop it. As for birth/wedding/death announcements, this too is different, nothing to do with published books, but here again, it depends on the circumstances of the family. If they lived in a very rural area, and/or if they were very poor, they might not have been able to afford announcements in the newspaper or they may have thought it too much trouble for something they didn't view as important.
I'm not saying something odd didn't happen in your family history, just that the absence of being mentioned in a book and the absence of newspaper announcements alone doesn't mean one should jump to conclusions.
No books on my own family's ancestry but did find one on the families living in the little community where we now live. Most all community members are related (we are one of the few transplants). I was curious about the accuracy of details in the book and asked one of the book contributors. He told me that much of the info. about people in the book is true but many of the families omitted info. they didn't want published because it was embarrassing--understandable. Still, it's an interesting book.
I have a book that traces the Mormon part of my family. I have no way of knowing if it's accurate but from my great grandparents down to my dad it matches what I know.
My grandpa has two books for two different lines, and they're accurate. It's so interesting to read.
I also have found a lot of books that are online now that talk about ancestors of mine since they were often the first (or most prominent) settlers in different areas.
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