DON STEEL
This obituary was originally published in the April 2008 edition of Soul Search, the journal of The Sole Society
We are sad to report the death of our Vice President, Don Steel, on Monday 7th April 2008 after a long illness.
Don was instrumental in the founding of The Sole Society in 1991 and also a number of other family history societies, including the Federation of Family History Societies in 1974. He was a Fellow of the Society of Genealogists.
Don made a significant contribution to the Sole Society over many years, not only with the Sole family trees, but also in looking at the links with our other names. His contributions to Soul Search, our journal, made very interesting reading and these can all be found on our web site.
As an accomplished author, Don was a driving force behind the early volumes of the Society of Genealogists National Index of Parish Registers series. Later as education officer for BBC South West, Don was the pioneer behind the 1979 BBC TV series Family History, narrated by Gordon Honeycombe and based on Gordon’s own researches. The following year Don wrote Discovering Your Family History to accompany the series.
In later years he sold genealogy books and material, and expended great effort in carrying his extensive stock around the country to various events, including our annual gatherings.
For over 40 years Don Steel made a major contribution to the family history world.