Welcome, Reader. I am delighted you are here! As you have already read the Title-Page of this Work, you will no doubt agree it provides ample Detail as to its Scope. I shall, therefore, take this Opportunity to present a brief Sketch of the Concept of the Family Topography.
When I first conceived of a Biographical and Topographical Tour—and a Family Topography as its written Record—I believed I had discovered a unique Approach to Modern Genealogy. I say Modern because antient Tours of Inspection—viz. the Heraldic Visitations conducted to verify the Coats of Arms of the great Houses of England—also combined the Genealogical and Topographical.
Accounts of these Visitations typically describe a Family Pedigree alongside the diverse Estates, Forests, Castles, Manors, &c., &c., inherited along with the hereditary Title. Such records constitute early Family Topographies.
Allow me to state that the Appellation of “Family Topographer”, which I might justifiably apply to my good self, is not my own Invention. It having taken so many years to publish the present Narrative, I will understand if you do not credit the Fact that my Expeditions into this Field of Inquiry began long before my ostensible Predecessor.
It was only upon bringing my Composition to Press—that Point when One might justifiably indulge in the careful Selection of an apt Epigraph—that I discovered Mr. Tymms had already styled himself as “The Family Topographer”. [1] Therefore, I will not designate myself as such—besides, it is my Client’s story I tell in A Family Topography—and have chosen to use the Epithet, Anonymous, for the time being.
Lest you mistake me for Mr. Tymms, permit me to declare that this present Work differs substantially from The Family Topographer in terms of Content, Scale and Emphasis. Each Volume in his Series gives an Account of the Counties in a particular Region of England.
The Plan of Work that introduces Mr. Tymms’s first Volume sets out the Purview of its Successors, viz. the Situation and Extent of the relevant Counties; their antient Remains, including the Earthworks and Fortifications of Early Britons and the Romans, Monastic Buildings, the Castles of Barons, &c.; the Present State of each County, including its Rivers and Canals, significant Civic Buildings and Picturesque Views, &c.; its History; Eminent Natives; and Miscellaneous Observations such as Important, Interesting or Amusing Facts. As this Plan suggests, Mr. Tymms’s Books privilege the Topographical over the Familial.
A Family Topography, by contrast, is first and foremost about the Discovery of my Client’s direct Ancestors and the Illumination of those various Aspects of their Lives such as the Publick Record provides. Like my esteemed Fellow Topographer, I hope to Educate and Entertain with such Matters as he evidently understands to constitute the Elements of a Place, but I do so only when conducive to Insight into the lives of the Client’s Relatives.
In each Chapter of the Volumes of this work, I will describe the Journey the Tourist and I made to the various Parishes, Cities, Towns and Villages, and often to the very Streets and houses, where my Companion’s Relatives were born, lived or died. Details of Places provide both Clues and Confirmation as to the Identity of those People and enrich the bare Facts of Birth, Marriage or Death Records.
These Individuals are rarely “Eminent Natives” of their Counties, but instead hail from the Middling or lower Ranks. Their abodes were not Castles and Manors, but Rooms, Houses, Cottages or even Tenements. Some were Shopkeepers, others went to Sea; some learned a Trade, others worked in the Fields. I must forewarn you that the vast majority of any Client’s Female Forebears have been ignored by History.
Reader, whether you have arrived here because my Client desires to share the Fruit of a not inconsiderable Investment in a long and sometimes arduous Tour; have been referred by one of that Individual’s Friends or Acquaintances; or discovered it by Chance, I sincerely hope that the initial and successive Chapters of A Family Topography—to be published in Installments— will sustain your Interest.
FURTHER ADVICE TO THE READER
Before I conclude, dear Reader, I must address an unexpected Development. I am flattered by the Inundation of Applications from Readers seeking to engage my Services. Unfortunately, I am unable to accept New Clients, Commissions of any Description, or answer Letters requesting the Birth, Marriage or Death dates of Persons yet to be included in the Appendix.
If you believe your Ancestor was an Eminent Native of one of England’s many several Counties or its Colonies, may I suggest you contact Mr. Tymms, care of Mr. Nichols or his Son, at the Address in the Footnote below.
However, if you believe you have relevant Information pertaining to the specific Individuals mentioned herein, which augments or corrects my own Research, I shall welcome it with Gratitude and Humility. Please send me a Letter! To do so, proceed to the Contact page of this Publication.
[1] Mr. Samuel Tymms, The Family Topographer: Being a Compendious Account of the Antient and Present State of the Counties of England, Volume I, Home Circuit, Mr. J.B. Nichols and Son, no. 25, Parliament-St., 1832.
A FAMILY TOPOGRAPHY 