In Search of Cornish Forbears: How to unravel your surname while enjoying your holiday (Unravelling the Code Book 1)

Cornwall is an ancient Celtic mining land on the southwest peninsula of Britain. As the mines ran out after 1850, a third of the population emigrated to North America and Australasia. Today many people want to know about their Cornish ancestors. Some are going further, and are seeking to discover and recreate the story of their surname and the people who have held it.
In Search of Cornish Forbears is the first of a series of short books on the history and genealogy of south-west England. The book describes the travels of Dr Joe Flood, founder of the Cornwall DNA project, as he seeks out first Cornwall, then his own ancestors, then everyone who held the name of his Cornish great-grandfather Coade. He progresses from a ‘spiritual tourist’ to a ‘genealogical tourist’ to a historical and DNA scholar as he proceeds through the country, seeking out Cornwall’s places, its records and its people. He shows in the process how to go about constructing complete family trees for a whole surname within England and beyond, while explaining how to navigate the necessary resources.

REVIEW Amazon UK: I have done plenty of family history research over the last 40 years so am not a rookie at this. However, this book has helped me challenge a few things that looked odd, look at distances between parishes, mentioned places and people who are in my tree and generally focused my thinking. All of that made me create a tangle that I will have to unravel! But that’s good as I now have the knowledge to approach it properly. All in all, I’d recommend it as a good read as well as good background.