One of the major genealogy topics of interest for the last few years has been the importance of incorporating the context of social history as we tell the stories of our ancestors.

Bringing Your Family History to Life Through Social History by Katherine Scott Sturdevant, published in 2000 by Betterway Books, Cincinnati, Ohio, is a book that was ahead of its time.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Foreword by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack
Introduction

1 Social History: Your Ancestors’ World
2 A Historians Approach to Home Sources: Artifacts
3 Artifacts II: Culture, Citing, and Caring
4 A Historian’s Approach to Family Photographs
5 Relative Talk: Oral History and Oral Tradition
6 Recapturing a Dying Art: Correspondence
7 “Here Come the Genies”: Braving the College Library
8 My Conclusion Is Your Beginning: Writing Family History

Endnotes
General Bibliography
Appendix: Forms for Family Historians
Index

A tip off to the quality of this book is that Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, a prolific author on her own and a huge proponent of the importance of understanding social history, wrote the foreword.

The title of the introduction says it all: Discovering Scholarly Family History and Having Great Fun With It

and the intro’s closing paragraph provides any writer’s goal: Making Family History Come Alive

Let’s start with the elephant in the room – the year 2000 as the date of publication of this book. Yes, there are a few topics which would definitely be covered in a social history and genealogy book published a quarter century later – like online resources, guiding readers to Elizabeth Shown Mills’ work for help citing family artifacts and including social media strategies for contacting distant relatives rather than mailing out letters through the post office.

However, none of that has any bearing on the quality and quantity of the extensive material found in Bringing Your Family History to Life. That’s because the social history framework itself is timeless.

Sturdevant has organized the process of applying social context to our ancestors in a very easy-to-follow format, opening with a discussion about why context is so important and how it is integral to understanding our ancestors’ lives.

Newbie and more experienced family history writers will love pages 18-19 as the author has identified 26 elements, or topics, that fit the category of social history. It couldn’t be any easier for writers to hunt down the kinds of life details that truly shaped out ancestors’ lives.

Chapters 2 through 6 explore, in depth, family artifacts that provide glimpses into those lives and how to handle them in story format.

I have to admit I found Chapter 7 a bit odd with the focus on professional librarians and the author’s perception of their disdain for genealogists. I’ve been researching since 1979 and can’t ever remember a time when I felt like I was a burden to a librarian who only wished for me to be gone.

Aside from that issue, the chapter does contain helpful pointers for a genealogist’s visit to a large non-genealogy-oriented library.

One more note – the author provided a list of icons used throughout the book – everything from “examples of this book’s advice at work”to “ways to make research more efficient” – all in all, 23 different icons.

To be honest, I didn’t even notice them as I read through the book. Since I didn’t even notice them for quite a while (not until I browsed for a specific page), I can’t say they are distracting, but I didn’t find them useful. Others might enjoy them as they are scattered as helpful tips throughout the whole book.

A beginning genealogist might be a bit overwhelmed by all the information in Sturdevant’s book, but more experienced writers should find the tips and strategies as very helpful aids for weaving social history through their ancestors’ lives. The book is almost 250 pages long!

I highly recommend this book as a necessary reference for writers who want their ancestors to be seen as real people affected by the social history around them, not just names in a family tree. It’s an excellent companion to Sharon DeBartolo Carmack’s book Telling Her Story: A Guide to Researching and Writing About Women of the Past.

Bringing Your Family History to Life Through Social History by Katherine Scott Sturdevant can be purchased new online for about $36.00. Used copies start at about $14.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purposes of review and I have received other books from Genealogical Publishing Company, also for review. However, my opinions are my own and not influenced by outside sources.

The full title of this book is a mouthful: Directory of Scots in the Carolinas 1680-1830, Consolidated Edition Comprising Volumes 1 and 2 Together with Chapter Four: the Emigrant Trade from Scottish Trade with Colonial Charleston, 1683-1783 by prolific Scottish author and compiler David Dobson.

Directory of Scots 2026 , titled as a consolidation, represents the combined volumes 1 and 2, in addition to one chapter from a third Dobson book, some of which were first published 40 years ago.

Examples of Entries:

Smith, Duncan 90. Born in Scotland. Margaret 80. Born in Scotland. Mary 50. Born in NC. Margaret 40. Born in NC. Catherine 38. Born in NC. Emigrated to America in 1786. A farmer in Robeson County, NC with a wife and 10 children in 1812.

McKaskill, Allen Born in Skye, Inverness-shire during 1768. Probably a son of Daniel McCaskill and his wife Christian McLean. Settled in NC. Father of Daniel, Allen, and Kenneth. Died in Richmond (?) County, NC.

Murray, John, of Murraythwaite, in Charleston around 1757

Whitney, John B. born in Fochabers, Morayshire, around 1780, died in Charleston on 13 December 1817

Chapter Four: The Emigrant Trade adds helpful background information about the many business transactions between Charleston, South Carolina and Scotland.

I have to continue with another recommendation for libraries and serious Scots researchers to have this book on their reference shelves.

Now for the elephant in the room – would it be cheaper to buy used copies of the three books rather than this new compilation? A quick check online showed me that the least expensive used books plus shipping would total more than the purchase of the new book and the single volume is handier to use than paging through three different books.

Directory of Scots in the Carolinas 1680-1830, Consolidated Edition Comprising Volumes 1 and 2 Together with Chapter Four: the Emigrant Trade from Scottish Trade with Colonial Charleston, 1683-1783 can be purchased from Genealogical.com for $78.00

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purposes of review and I have received other books from Genealogical Publishing Company, also for review. However, my opinions are my own and not influenced by outside sources.

Today, we”l take a look at the second of David Dobson’s three newly published books in 2026.

For those who are unfamiliar with David Dobson’s work, he has compiled massive amounts of facts about Scots and the individual records about them uncovered in original resources, including archives, newspapers, etc.

Scottish Soldiers and Prisoners of War 1638-1652 The Wars of the Three Kingdoms is especially significant because the wars in Britain from 1638-1652 brought about many life changes, particularly for those on the losing side who were punished with transportation far from today’s United Kingdom.

There are also numerous entries about Scots in the military

Given that this book is a compilation of names, Dobson’s method of presenting the facts in alpha-order of surnames, there is no need for an index and it is easy to open the book and look for possible information about the researcher’s possible Scottish ancestor.

Scottish Soldiers does have an introduction, providing a brief overview of the war/s involving King Charles I and describing the penal transportation system.

There are also a few locale illustrations and a list of the abbreviations for the sources of details about each person named i nthe book.

Examples of Entries:

Darling, George, captured at the Battle of Worcester, on 2 September 1651, was transported via London aboard the John and Sarah of London, master John Greene, landed at Boston, New England, on 13 February 1652

Naismith, William, a chaplain of Montgomery’s Regiment in 1645

Kidd, William, possibly a prisoner of war who was transported to Barbados, a militiaman there in 1679

Rodger, Captain, was hanged at the Mercat Cross of Edinburgh on 26 April 1654

The lengthier entries are similar to that of George Darling, above, identifying battle participation and what became of them.

David Dobson’s books are absolutely fabulous guides to the movement of Scots around the world. Scottish Soldiers and Prisoners of War 1638-1652 will be especially helpful in identifying early American colonial ancestors of Scottish origins.

Ancestors found in this book who settled in the American colonies have sources cited explaining how and why they ended up in the New World and it wasn’t by their own choice.

Scottish Soldiers and Prisoners of War 1638-1652 The Wars of the Three Kingdoms is another book that needs to be on the shelf of every genealogical library and on the book shelf of those with many 17th century Scottish connections in colonial America.

The book can be purchased from Genealogical Publishing Company for $30.50.