Searching for Charles

📖 The Scoop

·      Royal Dragonfly Book Awards 1st Place in 1) History Nonfiction, 2) Letters, Journals, Diaries; and Honorable Mentions in 1) Biography/Autobiography/Memoir, 2) New Author: Nonfiction (2023)

·      Firebird Book Awards 1st Place in 1) Biography/Historical, 2) History/US, 3) New Nonfiction (2023)

·      Book Readers Appreciation Group (B.R.A.G.) Medallion Honoree in Non-Fiction (2024)

·      Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY Book Awards 2nd Place in History (2023)

·      Florida Authors and Publishers Association President’s Book Awards 3rd Place in Autobiography/Biography/Memoir (2023)

·      Illinois State Historical Society Certificate of Excellence in Scholarly Books (2024)

·      Illinois State Genealogical Society Special Recognition Award (2023)

·      Library of Congress Illinois Center for the Book Illinois Author (2022)

·      Nellie Bly Chanticleer International Book Awards Finalist in Journalistic Non-Fiction (2023)

·      Eric Hoffer Book Award Category Finalist (2024)

·      Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards Finalist in 1) Nonfiction: History, 2) Nonfiction: True Story (2023)

·      Page Turner Awards Finalist in Best Book (2023)

·      Self-Publishing Review Book Awards Overall Finalist (2022)

·      Kindle Book Awards Semi-Finalist in Non-Fiction (2023)

“A stunning portrait of the past. The story of Charles’ travels is a delicious dive into history, with extensive context and explanation provided by the author before each letter that Charles sent back to England. From sharing painful family drama and stories of monumental risks/rewards to critical analysis of a new nation, the gamut of subject matter is broad and undeniably fascinating. Searching for Charles is an impressive genealogical achievement, an homage to the power of family, and a testament to the importance of our ancestry.” ~ Self-Publishing Review, ★★★★★

“An extraordinary man making his way through a new country on the cusp of the industrial age, Charles Watts embodies the image of a self-made man and restless immigrant, constantly finding new opportunities westward and doggedly trying to convince his kin to join in the venture…Searching for Charles is an excellent example of how genealogists can tie together a compelling and rich narrative by using personal papers, archival manuscripts, and in-depth social history research. It is the gold standard of what a genealogist can strive to achieve.” ~ Debra Dudek, The Quarterly Journal of the Illinois State Genealogical Society

“Drawing on his letters home, Searching for Charles vivifies a nineteenth-century English immigrant’s new life on the Illinois prairie . . . The epistolary biography Searching for Charles is rich with details from a nineteenth-century immigrant’s life.” ~ Foreward Clarion Reviews, ★★★

“An exceptional biographical read underpinned by extensive research, Searching for Charles: The Untold Legacy of an Immigrant's American Adventure is unreservedly recommended.” ~ BookViral Reviews, ★★★★★

“A celebration of an ‘ordinary’ working-class immigrant who journeyed from Britain to build a new life in America offers a window into 19th-Century prairie pioneer living . . . Genealogy lovers will be enthralled by author Stephen Watts’ Searching for Charles, a fascinating, authentic, and epic search to uncover his American family tree.” ~ IndieReader, ★★★

“A remarkable immersion in history as it was lived, Searching for Charles offers transcriptions of Charles' letters back home as he and countless other immigrants built new lives—and a nation.” ~ BookLife, Production: A

“The letters of a 19th-century immigrant and pioneer are transcribed and contextualized by his descendent in this absorbing debut epistolary biography by Watts.” ~ Kirkus Reviews, Recommended

“A heartfelt, often-revealing look at one family’s American story. General history buffs will be intrigued by this presentation, while family history buffs, especially, will be delighted.” ~ BlueInk Review

What started as a project to archive a family’s genealogy files became an insightful window into the life of Charles Watts, one of the millions of Dickens-era working-class English emigrants who risked everything for the possibility of better opportunities in distant lands.

Searching for Charles is the chronological account of Watts’s experiences as told through his letters home—and the subsequent five-decade multigenerational search by his descendants. This book contains the only published, complete transcriptions of Watts’s letters. They cover a wide range of topics, including farming, European revolutions, Native Americans, a burgeoning family feud, and firsthand accounts of the rapidly expanding population of early nineteenth-century America, along with the opportunities provided by its explosive growth.

Searching for Charles is for readers interested in how the discoveries encountered during a half-century genealogical journey can unfold into a dramatic and surprising account of the hidden life of an unhistoric man.

Genre: History / Europe / Great Britain / Victorian Era (1837-1901) (fancy, right?)