Beginning family history

[fredpuli47]

1) What book do you recommend to someone who is just about to start researching family history?

2) My maternal grandfather was married to my grandmother but nobody in the family ever talked about him and would change the subject if I ever asked. ..I've discovered a bit since :evidently he was an alcoholic who left his wife and children. I have my late mother's birth certificate of 1913 and so know his full name . I know, from what little I have heard from relatives now deceased, that he served in the Great War and survived it. How do I find out his birth date and his death date and anything else about him?

[dot.hawkes]

it is probably quite easy to do that really, just look on the 1901 census and it will all be there, you need to do the Ancestry.co.uk free trial to start you off and then you will be able to find him and all his family, parents etc, in 1901, unless you still live where you know they lived, in which case you can go into your local reference library and check it, they should have a surnale index.
His age and address and fathers name will also be n his wedding certificate if you have a copy in the family, once you oin ancestry you can search the general register office index of birth death and marriage wi=hich will give you the info you need to order certificates for all events.
For a book for beginners i would try to locate something by stella colwell or by the federation of family history societies, look at theie website for titles.

[dot.hawkes]

to narrow down the date of death, you should look at your mum's family and see if she was the eldest or the youngest, then ask any of her sisters or brothers if thier father was recorded as alive on their marriage certificates or when last do they remember him being around, that will help narrow your search of the death index, is it possibel he is buried with your grandmother? he may be recorded on the gravestone

[Tichfield]

You may well be able to find details relating to the birth and death here:

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/