John R. Mayer was a noted genealogist and author who suffered an untimely death in 1998. At that time, much of his lifetime of genealogy research work was yet to be published. Over the past 20 years, Arapacana Press has published hardcover limited editions of most of his books making them available to genealogy libraries and individual genealogists. In 2016, most of the books were made available as .pdf files.
* * * Important Update * * *
Book prices further reduced!
The Extraneus books were recently substantially reduced in price and shipping within the U.S.A. hasn't increased very much. Unfortunately the cost of shipping to Canada and overseas has increased so you may not see much change in the total cost to ship to those destinations.
We will not be printing any more hardcover editions
of any of the books in the Extraneus series. Six of the hardcover books are already out of print and the last one is in very short supply. The remaining books are being offered at clearance prices. (For the time being, .pdf files for most of the Extraneus books will continue to be available.)
Books still available:
Book XI, Strange of Blisland
Also, we have relocated to 11739 Townsquare Blvd, Rockford, Michigan 49341.
"We are about to embark on a journey through nine centuries. Our names, faces, and places are unimportant in an ultimate sense. As humanity progresses through time and space in a continual struggle toward perfection, we study the fortunes and sorrows of others, aiming to find prosperity and avoid demise. This is a history of the Strange family from 999 to 1998. We shall explore the manor house and park at Hunstanton Hall, Norfolk, and examine places elsewhere Stranges have lived, such as France, Scotland, Ireland, and America.
This study documents the history of over thirty generations of a family called Strange. The le Strange or L’Estrange family was the most celebrated and well-known branch of this family, and they lived principally at Hunstanton Hall, an estate in Norfolk, England. Several other families emigrated to other parts of Great Britain and to foreign countries. The narrative here is not intended to extol nor praise the accomplishments of these families. We shall examine both the good and bad characteristics of these people. In a broader and more important sense, this story will illustrate the evolutionary and historical pageant of Anglo-Saxon and Norman peoples, from medieval to modern times, hopefully without bias.
. . . With an emphasis on architecture, art, literature, and the humanities, we will view the changing world through many eyes. Having acquired spatial dominance through their ownership of land, and temporal prominence through their succession of heirs, certain Stranges were fortunate enough to achieve a comfortable position in society, from which vantage point they were privileged to engage in several mental pursuits, such as politics, religion, jurisprudence, military service, journalism, and writing—the disciplines that control so many features of this world.
Humans aim to understand and control the space around them, the time before them, and the mind inside them. The Strange chronicles give us one enchanting view of this struggle for achievement and enlightenment."
John R. Mayer, Extraneus, Vol. I, Book I, "Le Strange of Middle Britain"
Mailing List
If you have any interest in these genealogy books, please add your name and e-mail to our mailing list.
You will receive notification of any important changes made to this web site. You will not be inundated with e-mail or snail mail because we rarely send either. Your name and address will be entirely confidential.
It is very expensive to mail brochures, so you are much more likely to receive any notifications if we have an e-mail address. Thanks so much.
Extraneus: Volume I-C - Book V - Strange of Eastern America Extraneus: Volume II - Le Strange of Anglia and Eire (Books VI, VII, & VIII) 
