Discover Your Ancestors
Issue 028
Welcome again to Discover Your Ancestors Periodical, your monthly mixture of social history and family history research advice.
Much as we still moan about our aches and pains, we also take modern medicine for granted – and we live longer, healthier lives than many of our ancestors thanks to it. This month, medical historian Simon Wills looks back at the medicines and treatments our forebears used – many of which could be as dangerous as the conditions they were intended to cure.
Family history is often about looking for traces of our ancestors in official records – but sometimes they left traces of other kinds, personal marks on buildings, trees and the like which can reveal little, personal insights into their character and lives. Inside, Ruth Symes offers an interesting exploration of our ancestors’ graffiti.
And there’s more, of course: life in the circus, deaths at sea, and more useful records going online, for example. I hope you enjoy another good read.
Andrew Chapman, Editor.