Writing Up Family History

[dreen22]

Having spent almost 20 years researching my various families I thought it would be worthwhile, sitting down and writing up my journey. I happily began but found all I was doing was writing up events as I found them, how I found them, who helped me, interspersed with various names of family individuals, together with interesting incidents along the way.

Is anyone else attempting a similar project and has any useful ideas to share.


dreeny22

[Janet]

It is very difficult to write up a "whole family tree project" so my one suggestion would be to break it down into manageable projects. I have just finished a project on my Great Grandfather which ran to 41 pages +two blank pages in case any further information is found. I have distributed this as a "book" to one family member who is not computer literate and distributed electronic PDF file to 6 other family members and had one hard copy bound for myself.

The project included his photograph on the front with all his birth/baptism and death details as well as all census as he lived all over the UK and army details to include his musters as he fought in Crimea War and the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny so I included some details on where his regiment(s) were based. He married an Irish girl in Ireland so I touched on her background in Ireland and one daughter was born there so I included her birth/baptism. All his children married and scattered around so I just touched on all their marriages and spouses. He came from a small hamlet in Northamptonshire so I wrote about the hamlet, the landowners and the history of the village and included pictures of gravestones of family buried in the local graveyard and pictures of the church and dwellings where his parents lived and included a tithe map of the area and a couple of stories about wills, illegitimate births and bigamous marriage!

To make the project interesting and not just a collection of data on BMD and Census do include some stories and photographs as well as some history.

I am sure others will come up with other ideas. I am now working on an Irish Project to include a couple of dissident Irish!

Janet

[Lindsay]

I'd echo what Janet said - it's probably easier to break it down into smaller units.

I did one about 3 generations of my family who left copious records behind, and included pictures of, for example, places they lived, newspaper items etc, and some background information that related to them.

I keep all my records in 'family group' folders, with copies of the family group sheet and all the documentation etc in date order, from baptism to burial, so hopefully anyone who's interested could pick up the file and flick through it to get an impression of the 'story' - and maybe one day I'll get round to writing up more of them properly.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

I'm watching this thread with interest as I'm ready to embark on "writing up" some of my extended family studies.
I'm thinking "parts" and then "chapters" on different branches of the family is the way for me to go. In two of my studies, my earliest ancestor married twice and I have information about each line - often the parallel line is more interesting than my own. (I want to include a profile for as many people as possible, as I intend, eventually, to deposit my research with the record office.)

Jay

[kylejustin]

a lady wrote a book about tracing her and her husbands family histories. she had chapters, starting from the beginning and working her way around the process. it was fascinating. i think her surname was marinelli. it was def italian and started with an 'm'.

[Anne in Carlisle]

Sometimes the way you managed to eventually find out all the details is a more interesting story than the actual family tree bit! I wrote about one of my GG grandfathers and in the end I did two stories; one about how I discovered his details; and the other about who he was descended from etc.

Anne

[kylejustin]

yes that's a very good point anne. it kind os lets you know about the author, and the links they share with their research and family. they make fascinating stories, and makes my relatives laugh when they hear them. specially when they concern my gran's memory of things......when she claims she knows nothing and you spend ages solving it she always she knew all along!

[PhotoFamily]

I'm trying to persuade my parents to write bios of their parents, and perhaps their grandparents. They are not self-starters on this project!

I'm coming to the conclusion that interest in ancestors comes in part from the process of discovery itself.

[Janet in Yorkshire]

I'm coming to the conclusion that interest in ancestors comes in part from the process of discovery itself.

Was only saying just this to a friend the other day! "Thanks to the internet, I'm really enjoying exploring just what is out there; I think I'm getting caught up in 'the chase'."

Jay

[Anne in Carlisle]

Yes, if pushed to choose I would say I was more interested in the chase than setting out the minute detail of their lives. But having said that, I AM interested in them too ... I often think about what they might have been like as people - something we never will find out.

For example, my auntie and I have cast my GG grandfather as a harsh, bad man because he divorced his wife (in 1889) and a number of other things we have found out. But we have a photo of him with a little grandaughter and he looks kindly enough, so who knows!

Anne

[Janet]

Sometimes the way you managed to eventually find out all the details is a more interesting story than the actual family tree bit! I wrote about one of my GG grandfathers and in the end I did two stories; one about how I discovered his details; and the other about who he was descended from etc.

Anne

This is an interesting one because my next Northants project was going to be exactly this in explaining how I researched the family and found them in other parishes, to explain links, however an Irish project has to be done first!

Janet

[angelina]

For photofamily - I typed up a sheet of questions with spaces for answers for one family i researched. The relatives then filled in the blanks. They really didnt have a clue where to start so this list made it easier for them and didnt seem so daunting.
Top of page name of person info supplied by XXX relationship to Bio person eg daughter
1 where were they born?
2 where did they live with addresses if poss
3 which school did they go to? what were their favourites subjects?
4 what jobs did they have and why eg did they follow parents occupations?
5 did they join the military?
6 where did they meet their spouse and when were they married
7 list of their children and birthdates if possible
8 any hobbies known?
9 date of death and burial place
10 any special information known about them eg religion,health matters etc
it was surprising how much came back - it started off easy to fill in and they just got carried away and wrote on the back in some cases.
I also got the all living relatives to fill in a sheet for themselves too to add to the family file.Some private stuff didnt come back to me but they have assured me they have put it in the family file!
feel free to copy and paste the questions if you want to.

[Darksecretz]

I'm trying to persuade my parents to write bios of their parents, and perhaps their grandparents. They are not self-starters on this project!

I'm coming to the conclusion that interest in ancestors comes in part from the process of discovery itself.

why not get them to record their family history on a cassette tape, or a digital type of recording, sometimes just talking about the family helps and can jog memories about specific events within the family, maybe get the photos out and take notes of what people are saying/record them while they are chattering away.

[Darksecretz]

if you click on the link it will take you too our downloadable forms and you can choose which form to print off and use in your research

http://www.familytreeforum.com/content.php/851-Downloadable-Research-Forms

this one might be suited to you Sarah

Family Group Sheet - version 2.pdf

[Elaine ..Spain]

why not get them to record their family history on a cassette tape, or a digital type of recording, sometimes just talking about the family helps and can jog memories about specific events within the family, maybe get the photos out and take notes of what people are saying/record them while they are chattering away.

That's how I started many years ago (?15+).
My mother was here on holiday and talking about the "old days" - I got out a small pocket tape recorder and recorded what she said.
I still have the tape somewhere and really must get round to transcribing it all! :D

[dreen22]

Sometimes the way you managed to eventually find out all the details is a more interesting story than the actual family tree bit! I wrote about one of my GG grandfathers and in the end I did two stories; one about how I discovered his details; and the other about who he was descended from etc.

Anne

That is so true Anne. Before the explosion pof the www I could spend weeks looking through records and when success happened - wonderful. However, when you start to write it up find there is not very much to say.

sreeny22

[PhotoFamily]

Julie & Angelina - Thanks for the suggestions.

I have actually taken dictation from my father over the phone (picture it: typing frantically, juggling the phone, asking questions!) and have used those notes to elicit more information from him.

I also created a table of historical records - year/address/event info - so that the write-up would have a historical frame work. WARNING - this didn't work well and became a distraction! My father was arguing about the occupation listed in two census records - as tho I can erase what had been written and correct them! Even my typed notes created a few comments - my short hand wasn't grammatically correct, etc. I also provided event details when his father was an informant on death certificates - that was confusing too.

But his father's bio is mostly written. I'm now trying to fill in details of home/personal life.

The question list should be useful for his mother. I've already started asking about Christmas dinner, favorite foods, etc.

[dreen22]

It is very difficult to write up a "whole family tree project" so my one suggestion would be to break it down into manageable projects. I have just finished a project on my Great Grandfather which ran to 41 pages +two blank pages in case any further information is found. I have distributed this as a "book" to one family member who is not computer literate and distributed electronic PDF file to 6 other family members and had one hard copy bound for myself.

The project included his photograph on the front with all his birth/baptism and death details as well as all census as he lived all over the UK and army details to include his musters as he fought in Crimea War and the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny so I included some details on where his regiment(s) were based. He married an Irish girl in Ireland so I touched on her background in Ireland and one daughter was born there so I included her birth/baptism. All his children married and scattered around so I just touched on all their marriages and spouses. He came from a small hamlet in Northamptonshire so I wrote about the hamlet, the landowners and the history of the village and included pictures of gravestones of family buried in the local graveyard and pictures of the church and dwellings where his parents lived and included a tithe map of the area and a couple of stories about wills, illegitimate births and bigamous marriage!

To make the project interesting and not just a collection of data on BMD and Census do include some stories and photographs as well as some history.

I am sure others will come up with other ideas. I am now working on an Irish Project to include a couple of dissident Irish!

Janet

Well, that is very interesting and has given me ideas to work with.

dreen22