Writing your Family History

pinkypinky · 30-01-2012 3:44pm #1

FMP's twitter account just directed me at this blog:

http://familyhistorywritingchallenge.blogspot.com/p/welcome.html

I'm interested in the concept. My family have often asked how the research is going but I haven't produced anything more than a photo album with the bare bones of names and dates in place.

Has anyone done this?

Alicat · 30-01-2012 7:56pm

Gosh, that sounds like hard work! Definitely don't have enough time on my hands any time soon for this! It would be brilliant to put it together and have to show the family though.

Waitsian · 30-01-2012 8:10pm

pinkypinky wrote: »

I'm interested in the concept. My family have often asked how the research is going but I haven't produced anything more than a photo album with the bare bones of names and dates in place.

Has anyone done this?

Yeah I've done it.

I did two in fact - one for my Dad's side, the other for my Mum's. I used the programme 'Who do you think you are?' as a guide. So not only did I find all the names and dates etc., I wove the info I found into a typed narrative, and did little things like descriptions of places and occupations and battles for example.

I really wanted to do it for my Uncle Tommy, who lives in Canada, and is the last surviving sibling of my father's family (from 5 of them). He knows little or nothing of his family history, and I didn't want to give him a simple family tree without context. Once I did it for him, I figured I'd do the same for the other side.

I really enjoyed the process because it put flesh on the bones for me as well and gave me valuable insight into how my ancestors lived.

Wyldwood · 30-01-2012 10:48pm

I've done it also for both sides of my family.
It was great fun to put all the research into a story. I put the ancestors into context in their surroundings and included all the anecdotes, coincidences & proven/disproven family lore onto paper. I included photos of the ancestors, ancestral homes and documents I had (certs, newspaper cuttings, letters etc.). Gave a copy to every member of my family in my generation along with their family tree.

It was very time consuming but I did it slowly over several years as the info came in.

shanew · 31-01-2012 10:48am

I did a book/folder for one side of my family for a get together - took quite a while. I had details for each of the direct ancestors, with their details plus certs, census entries, photos, parish transcripts, newspaper & directory scans etc, plus sections with an overall tree diagram, maps, timelines, general history of the areas, occupations and surnames etc.

As a separate project we put together a photo album in a book - with further galleries online.

One side effect this process had was that you check your your source details as you go - and fix them up if required.

Shane

pinkypinky · 31-01-2012 11:25am

Yes, I'm thinking that it would usefully clarify gaps for me. For example, I never bothered to get most of my mother's grandparents' death certs because she and her own mother knew the dates and ages.

Jellybaby1 · 31-01-2012 12:44pm

I am hoping when I have enough material I can put it onto Powerpoint. However, I still think an actual book is better for handing round for folks to see. It's not always convenient to set up a Powerpoint presentation. People love to touch photos. This American hobby of Scrapbooking memories is very popular here now, but personally I'm not taken with it at all but I might do something along those lines but without all the frills and flowers etc., that distract the eye from the real story.

P. Breathnach · 31-01-2012 1:28pm

pinkypinky wrote: »

Yes, I'm thinking that it would usefully clarify gaps for me. For example, I never bothered to get most of my mother's grandparents' death certs because she and her own mother knew the dates and ages.

This raises a good question: how well documented need a family history be? I have sought very few death certificates in my endeavours, and for deaths that happened in the 20th century it was usually because the date, place, and cause of death were known in the family. Do I need a death certificate to tell me that my maternal grandfather died of a heart attack on 15th December 1950 at his home near Dingle? That's something that I know, and I would confidently write a family history with that as a fact.

Anybody who doubts what I say can, with the information I supply, seek the certificate. It's not as if I am making assertions that cannot be verified.

My concern about writing up the family history is about the uncertainty about things in the 19th century, particularly before official registers were instituted. I am happy to write things in a guarded way, using expressions like "it looks as if..." or "so far as I can trace..." but I have enough experience of life to know that many people will disregard the reservation, and treat a weak case as if it were proven fact.

shanew · 31-01-2012 1:46pm

I suppose death certs are often skipped as a source as they often dont provide much additional information, but I have come across useful clues such as previously unknown addresses, 'new' relations as informants etc. I've found death certs difficult to find sometimes - older people in my family moving to other area to live with their children etc

On the amount of proof you need, I think that's up to the individual researcher. I require proof 'beyond reasonable doubt' for a person to become an ancestor or side-branch. I have early likely ancestors, but with only circumstantial evidence connecting them (e.g. uncommon surname, same townland or area etc), and no documented proof - so these end up in the 'possible connections' chapter of the book.

Shane

Coolnabacky1873 · 31-01-2012 7:31pm

I would take the view that anything past your parents should be documented where possible.....and then properly cited! Citation is crucial for any family history write up (but that's another story).

I've lost count of the amount of times I've had clients tell me 'facts' about their grandparents that turn out to be mistaken. Family stories and information can easily change in just one generation.

Not that documentation is always 100% accurate, but it's always a good idea to compare the document to what has been told by previous generations.

Shanew also points out some very good reasons as to why it is always a good idea to get all the documents you can.

pedroeibar1 · 31-01-2012 11:31pm

Coolnabacky1873 wrote: »

I've lost count of the amount of times I've had clients tell me 'facts' about their grandparents that turn out to be mistaken.

My grandfather discouraged me from family research, gave me no help whatever. In his papers (which I got on the death of my father) I discovered a tree, going back to the Famine, showing the children in each generation. I took it at face value at first, then got curious and checked some entries. Those I checked were 100% correct. A four year gap after the birth of my great grandfather's first child made me curious; supposedly he had gone to America and then returned. I could not find him on Ellis Island records, and then discovered that not only were the parents not married, my Ggrandmother was 4 months pregnant with my grandfather when she married! I've exploded some great myths, much to the delight of my mother, who always enjoyed a 'dig' at the paternal line!
I use FTM, use the people notes page for anecdotes, etc and will cut & paste when it comes time for 'The Book'.

shanew · 01-02-2012 9:26am

just on the point of the accuracy of the passed down details .. what I found was that although individual details were correct, they could be crossed - i.e. a location or event was correct but linked to the wrong name or generation, so worth bearing in mind.

There is other phenomenon I've seen in other families is the occupation exaggeration syndrome, which seems to me to become more pronounced the further away the family emigrate. There seems to be a very large number of people whose ancestors owned mills and pubs for example...

Shane

patsman07 · 01-02-2012 1:37pm

Im in the process of doing this with my own family history. Like a previous poster im doing it very slowly and adding in material as I find it. I've found that many of the things that were passed down have turned out to be true. Many things which my grandmother told me about my grandfathers family I thought were dubious but now i've the records to prove them. For example my Great-Great Grandfather getting married twice and his involvement with the Fenians.
What I find very frustrating is finding information from the 20th century which is confusing/interesting and not being able to ask my grandparents (who died in the 9 and 8 years ago) about them. If I had of started the prokect when they were alive it would have saved me hours of research and I would have a better picture of various events.
With regards the passing around of the family history in book form, I've been very dissappointed to find that most members of my family aren't really interested. Is this unique?

P. Breathnach · 01-02-2012 2:31pm

patsman07 wrote: »

... I've been very dissappointed to find that most members of my family aren't really interested. Is this unique?

Why be disappointed? That's people for ya! Some will be very interested, some mildly interested, some quite uninterested. Some who are not interested today may become interested in the future.

The only person whose interest is really important is yourself. I am researching my family history because I was curious about some things, and it has evolved into an enjoyable challenge.

I am still struggling with the best way to represent things. The family tree diagram, with names and dates, is only mildly interesting. The real interest is the mini-biographies that I can construct, even though they are usually very limited. I try to set the facts about people's lives into a social history context (and that includes such things as wondering how my ancestors got through the Great Famine). So far, I have written about ten short essays. I can't see how to build anything like a continuous narrative. My half-formed idea at the moment is to develop a html file where on can click on names and access material associated with that name. But that needs a bit of planning, and I haven't developed my thoughts yet.

shanew · 01-02-2012 3:18pm

P. Breathnach wrote: »

......
Some will be very interested, some mildly interested, some quite uninterested. Some who are not interested today may become interested in the future.
....

+1 on that point ... relations on one side showed no interest for years, and the eldest uncle claimed to remember nothing of interest, but as time passed, and prompted by snippets of information we've passed on to him, even he has come around a little and given me a few gems.

An aunt that showed little interest initially recently gave me an old briefcase she located, complete with my grandfather's 1926 passport and photos and pamphlets of when he went on a visit to Canada as part of a Dept. of Agriculture delegation - Treasure!

Shane

pinkypinky · 01-02-2012 3:57pm

patsman07 wrote: »

With regards the passing around of the family history in book form, I've been very dissappointed to find that most members of my family aren't really interested. Is this unique?

Far from it. My brother and Dad are never very enthusiastic but my mother is as keen as me, even when it's her husband's side news.

I've done a couple of family evenings where I displayed the tree through a computer hooked up to the tv, where I showed a person on the tree, then their photo and talked about what I know. It has occasionally generated "new" information.

Jellybaby1 · 02-02-2012 12:20am

I've had comments which basically told me I was a bit of a pain going on about family trees. It doesn't stop me but I did get a bit upset at the time as its important to me to know about my own family. It upsets me to think someone knows something and couldn't be bothered to share it with me.

Coolnabacky1873 · 02-02-2012 5:43pm

What annoys me are the dismissive comments from people such as "Genealogy? Sure I know all my ancestors already."

Really? Give me a look at that 1879 birth certificate for your great great grandfather so we can see his fathers occupation is. Now, how did you know what civil registration district to look in?

"Civil Reg wha?"

I thought not.

Sorry, rant over lol

patsman07 · 06-02-2012 12:43am

Actually my Dad just read it this weekend. Fairly chuffed

Writing your Family History

Comments