Historic family risks abandoning church before trial (8)
I believe the answer is:
ancestry
'historic family' is the definition.
'ancestry' can be an answer for 'family' (I've seen this before). I am not sure about the 'historic' bit.
'risks abandoning church before trial' is the wordplay.
'risks' becomes 'chances' ('chance' can be a synonym of 'risk').
'abandoning' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation).
'before trial' becomes 'try' (I am not sure about the 'before' bit.).
'chances' with 'ch' taken away is 'ances'.
'ances'+'try'='ANCESTRY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ancestry that I've seen before include "Genealogy" , "Blood line" , "Family tree" , "Line of forebears" , "Lineage" .)