Genealogy, inspired!
Today marks the date in 1882 that Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery of the bacteria that causes Tuberculosis, also known as TB or (for us family historians) Consumption. To commemorate World Tuberculosis Day, I’d thought I’d share a personal story about TB. A story about how it brought my maternal Grandma from her hometown…
Last Spring I reached out to the Marion (Indiana) Public Library about some research I was doing about two young siblings, Leah and Dale, who passed away tragically in separate incidences. I was trying to untangle the threads of oral history from fact and thought there might be a newspaper article or two about the…
Inaccuracies are caused by faulty recall; there is no factual research to discover heights of buildings, dates of demolition, blood types
Thanks to my maternal Grandma’s writing, I know that Nancy was a Quaker and very much a “woman of her time”. She was expected to do things a certain way and expected the same of her 13 children. Which is why, when Hannah came along and didn’t exactly fall in line, she began telling her how “bold and queer” she was.
One thing that comes up time and again when researching how to document one’s family history are the legal documents that can and should be used to confirm an ancestors identity and their relationships to others. These documents include vital records (birth, death, adoption, and marriage certificates), probate records/Wills, newspaper notices/Obituaries, and Census records, much of which can be found or ordered online if not held within your personal family records.
But what if you don’t have access to such records? Or what if they simply don’t exist?
This is the conundrum I’ve found myself in with multiple passed loved ones spanning three generations on my mom’s side. And so, as I’ve asked myself how to document the undocumented, I thought, “I surely can’t be alone, can I?”!
Timing is everything when faced with interest in learning about our family history, isn’t it? It seems many of us aren’t incredibly interested in such things in our youth and by the time we begin to get the itch, many of our elders have already passed. So, how do we strike a balance? Well, if you’re here in this space with me now I’d wager a guess you have found an interest (even a tiny one) and may or may not be ready to fully dive in so I’m going to offer a simple suggestion: Begin by documenting the facts and stories passed down in your family.
No matter what your personal goals are, if you are aiming to be comprehensive in documenting your family’s story, there are several details you should consider including to create a detailed and engaging narrative. Here are seven important topics I’ve come across in my research for you to consider as you begin (or continue) writing about your family history.
A family history written in a single sitting may be just as life changing to kin down the road as an unfinished book that took over a decade to compile. The biggest gift we can give ourselves and our relatives is to get out of own way while we try to contribute to our family’s story.
No matter where you are on your family history remembrance journey, it’s never too late to start or begin again.