Writing, Scrapbooking, Podcasting My Family History
My last post started with brainstorming ideas for ways to record family histories (link) that didn't include lots of writing. Scrap booking seemed to hold the most promise & flexibility. I should confess at the outset that my one and only attempt involved cutting & pasting pictures of Elvis Presley! The result wasn't pretty but I guess it reflected the effort I gave it! This time I will remember that “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ...
A cup of coffee with a friend was the motivation for this post. It seemed that her dormant interest in family history was being stirred by my blog. However, she felt that her perceived lack of writing skills was holding her back. This post is for Maggie and anyone else who finds the idea of "writing" a family history just too daunting.
With any family history research there will be times when the only records you have are a list of dates, names and places. Hardly the material need for a story that will encourage your family to feel connected with. The sort of connection that Theophilus Adcock provided! Without records we must fall back on what we do know. Oral stories, photographs, intuition & assumptions all have their place in a writers imagination. Trust yourself and write from your heart.
It has become obvious to me that searching for 4th cousins twice removed to add to my ancestry tree is not my forte! They all seem distant & I struggle to feel connected. Until I find a story that is! Then the connection is made. However, when I wrote "Filling In the Gaps" & a "Love Letter For Jimmy" my memories were my starting point. Now, when my ancestry search finds a story in the court news saving them on templates and sharing them with you is going to be quite a different journey!
From the archives of my mother's memory bank our family history includes hop picking in Kent in the 1950's. She gave me two photographs of her sisters family and filled in the gaps in her own unique way. Thankfully other family historians have brought this part of my family history to life. To them I offer my thanks, should they ever stumble across this post!
I was warned by experienced family researchers that once I started my family tree I would become addicted! They were right. Writing stories, finding connections and stalking my family members (both near and far) for snippets of information have become all consuming. So much so that I have had to devise a way to chill out. Sitting back with my feet up, a cup of coffee close by and a TED Talk was my solution. The topic? What else, Family History!
Warts And All 