UpFront with NGS: family stories

Showing posts with label family stories. Show all posts

23 May 2017

#52Stories

#52Stories

FamilySearch has an initiative where you are encouraged to write one story every week for a year, thus completing 52 stories.

To add some fun to the process, FamilySearch has printables (my favorites are the Weekly Questions). You can also access the complete list of 52 questions here though that can sometimes be intimidating!

Many people believe that it takes a lot of time and work to write their life story and feel that the task is just too big. Because of that, they never start. But sharing memories of your life does not have to be a big, involved effort. Imagine how much easier the task of writing about your life might be if you were to focus on writing about just one topic each week. It doesn’t matter if you write a few paragraphs, a single page, or several pages. The important thing is that you write something. Anything is better than nothing at all.

I can see this as a fun project to engage family members in also. Maybe send out a weekly email or post to your family on FB. Odds are that everyone can take a few minutes to answer “one” question with a sentence or two or more (not expected and always appreciated!) and you can then compile them and create a fun and incredibly personal family gift.

As mentioned above, getting started is key. It’s amazing all the things that we spend time doing each week, and yet often balk at spending a few minutes to leave a lasting legacy. I am as guilty of this as the next person. The closest I get is to still maintain a paper calendar where I jot notes of what I do, observations, and more and serve as family photographer. And, that’s still just a skeleton of my life and not nearly so thought-provoking and intimate as the answers to any of the questions which are part of #52Stories!

Wouldn't this be a fun event to do with a youth group? At a family reunion or while celebrating a holiday or when on vacation?

What's your excuse for not getting started this week?

What question is your favorite (either in terms of a response you would give or in terms of the answer you would love to receive from a family member)?

What questions might you add?

Which family member has surprised you the most with their answers?

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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18 December 2014

Secrets (aka Skeletons in the Closet) -- every family has them -- during the holidays they are perpetuated or sometimes debunked!

Created by HikingArtist.com, https://www.flickr.com/photos/hikingartist/3006517896/sizes/o/. [CC-BY-ND-2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/)], via flickr

I doubt there is a family out there that doesn’t have a secret of one kind or another. Some are small (grandma’s real age) and some are much bigger (who the true parents of a person are, that great-granddad was a bigamist or murder or ?!?!) and many more in between.

Over the holidays, it’s not unusual to use the opportunity to ask older family members questions about the family and for those same individuals to share the stories of their life, including what they had been told by their parents, aunts/uncles, grandparents, etc.

I’ve research many families (including my own) where I discover the birth of a bastard, a previous marriage and/or divorces not mentioned in the material given, evidence of crimes (there’s one family where every male sibling ended up jailed in the late 18^th century), institutionalized ancestors, slave owners and much more ...

What is a family historian to do when they learn about news that is likely to be “less than well received?” If you are the “learner” of this information, will you be sharing it with your extended family? If not, why not? If so, how will you do it? If you are the recipient of such news, what will be your reaction? Denial and disbelief or calm acceptance?

I was reminded of all of this when I re-read the article When a Genealogy Hobby Digs Up Unwanted Secrets. I found the quote at the end to really speak to me. I’ve always tried to have the perspective that everyone, including our ancestor’s were human, trying to do the best they could given the circumstances of their life.

"I felt obligated to break the news to the family," and "it wasn't well-received," says Dr. Hibben. But she is at peace with it, believing her forebears "did the best they could with what they knew." The take-away for her: "My ancestors were human, and it's OK if I'm human too."

I think it’s important to remember that we are a “product” of the ancestors we find – whether The Good, The Bad and the Ugly or mostly in-between. Putting them up on pedestals can be dangerous and self-identifying with them to the degree that we only see the good and not the flaws can be hazardous also. Sometimes those “flaws” are what give us the best stories and allow ourselves to laugh at ourselves when we can use great grandpa’s Joe’s family story as a cautionary tale.

Another great article on this topic can be found on A Grave Interest, Skeletons in the Family Closet where she ends by saying ...

Remember that if we continue to keep those family secrets, key components of family history will never get fully revealed or stand a chance of being explained. That could leave us with a large gap in the understanding of who our ancestors were, and the real information that could help us make sense of them could end up lost forever.

As George Bernard Shaw said, “If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.”

Some related reading:

+ Skeletons in the closet: Family tree boom unlocks secrets some may rather not have known (

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+ What to Do With the Skeletons in the Closet

+ Genealogy: Laughs, Sadness, and a Few Skeletons

+ Genealogy can open ‘Pandora’s box” of family secrets (

)

+ Should Genealogist Spill Family Secrets?

If you truly don’t want to know about any skeletons in the closet, you may want to find a new hobby! I often counsel my clients that if they really don’t want to know the truth, they are better off not asking the questions ...

Editor’s Note: Related post is What’s the truth behind the legend in many African American families about having a Native American ancestor?

Editor’s Note: Thanks to Claudia Breland for reminding me of this article.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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19 September 2014

Who doesn't have a grandma story ?!?!? FamilySearch is collecting them starting tomorrow ...

Elsie (Taylor) (Fountain) Paine, 1999 -- the last time I saw her
Copyright Diane L Richard

FamilySearch is launching a campaign tomorrow to collect stories about grandmothers (see the full announcement below).

I did not interact much with either of my grandmothers – my maternal one lived in England and my paternal one in Virginia (though it might as well have been England). We lived in Connecticut.

Their personalities could not have been more different. One was quite tolerant in many regards and the other quite critical. I wish I could say that I have fond memories of both, and if I dig deeply enough, that is true. I did enjoy some good times with both and I can say that I learned lessons from both. From my paternal grandmother I learned more about the person I didn’t want to be and from my maternal grandmother I learned, as a teenager, to trust who I was.

Though I only saw my maternal grandmother about every 7 years (I don’t know if this is exactly true and I remember in high school figuring out that frequency of visits). Thank goodness she lived into her 90s (as did my paternal grandmother) and a few months before she died I was fortunate to travel to England (via Bern Switzerland where my husband was working at the time) with my children (6 and 8) so that they could all meet (laughingly enough, she first met my daughter when she was 1, 7years before!). My daughter still remembers this trip and though we only spent 1 day with her great grandmother, she left a lasting impression on my daughter.

Her most lasting impression on me was as a teenager. She came over to visit here (I can still picture a photo taken of her standing by a lake – which I cannot seem to find at the moment) and while in town she took over my room. I don’t remember where I slept. My bed had a headboard and footboard and she was always hitting her legs against the footboard and cursing it in a very understated British way with a smile. When she was leaving, she left me with a little wrought iron candle holder (which I still have in my shoebox, literally a shoe box, which is all besides clothes that I took when I left for college and then the rest of my life) and she shared a version of the following with me.

She said that she “knew” that I was always being blamed for things that I had not done and to not take to heart that my mother was critical of my nerdish & dreamy ways (obviously not the word an English grandmother would say and you get the gist). It still brings tears to my eyes, over 40 years later, to just remember the “strength” that she gave me to be myself, regardless of others. My grandmother “got me.” She didn’t find me lacking. She understood why I kept a low profile (she obviously had shared my closet and had seen my personal artwork and other things stored there that I would never have shared with the rest of my family as they would have made fun of me, based on enough past experience) and she respected me for that.

My grandmother, in a couple of sentences, helped empower me to remain strong to who I was and would become. She helped give me the strength to live life on my own terms, to be who I am ....

That is my ONE story about my grandmother ... what is yours?

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SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH—If you could share ONE story about your grandma, what would it be? That’s the question nonprofit FamilySearch International (FamilySearch.org) is nudging people worldwide to respond to as part of its worldwide #meetmygrandma social media campaign, September 20-30.

FamilySearch announced the campaign today, seeking 10,000 stories in 10 days to kick off the global initiative where descendants are invited to share and preserve online or through a mobile app the fond memories or stories about their grandmothers’ charms or idiosyncrasies. Find out more at FamilySearch.org/MeetMyGrandma.

“Heart-warming experiences with a beloved grandmother are at the heart of many fond memories from our formative years, or even adulthood,” said Brad Lowder, International Marketing Director for #MeetMyGrandma campaign. “All you have to do is ask a person to share a special memory about their grandmother, and they immediately wax sentimental as they recount a heartfelt story or wise saying they cherish from a grandmother. We want to encourage people to capture for future generations those stories that make their grandmothers so special.”

FamilySearch.org offers a free international service for families to share their family histories, memories, photos, and historic documents online and preserve them for future generations. If you are fortunate to have a grandma still living, the free FamilySearch Memories mobile app (IOS only for now) allows individuals to audio record their grandmother and save those recordings online. And there are 20 fun questions to ask your grandma to help write and preserve her personal history in her own words online.

“The #meetmygrandma campaign encourages families to have fun as each member of the family shares their personal perspectives of what makes their grandmothers so special to them,” added Lowder. Their stories, and those contributed by other family members and relatives, are saved to a dynamic online profile dedicated specifically to their grandma, along with any photos and digital artifacts submitted.

One youth contributor wrote, “Grandma Ella likes to Fly. Age 80 isn’t too old to fly. She discovered she loves jumping out of airplanes. Now I know where I get my adventurous personality.” He included a picture of her skydiving with her coach. Another woman tells how her grandmother suffered for 20 long painful years from cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and other illnesses, but still managed to run a successful business from her bed.

The launch of the initiative runs from September 20–30, but the campaign will run indefinitely. Go to FamilySearch.org/meetmygrandma for more information.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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08 July 2013

Recording Interviews When You Are NOT in the same room? What's a Genealogist to Do?

Source: Josh Bancroft, http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshb/1461257223/

Creative Commons, Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic

The genesis for this post is a query posted on the Technology for Genealogy Facebook (FB) page.

Someone asked about taping conversations with her father over the phone.

It really hit a nerve with me (probably since when I grew up and even now have lived far from family).

This person went on to say that her father wouldn’t use the recorders that she had left with him over the years.

Gosh – doesn’t that sound like my family! Not necessarily the recorders element and the aspect of trying to get information from family members when it’s not a priority for them!

And, since, back in the day, I was trying to get information, before the internet, smartphones, netbooks, ipads, cheap/free phone calls, etc, one was limited to meeting in person, letter writing and phone calls for getting information. Except, when a transatlantic phone call was involved – you couldn’t afford the time or $ to do a family history inquisition and normally just chatted about what everyone was doing and that they were well.

Now, let’s come forward again ... the query on the Technology for Genealogy FB page got me thinking about how, with all our new technologies, can we use those to “remotely” get family history information from those relatives who are still alive and yet live remotely from us?

Obviously, if someone has internet access and can type – you might just find the answers in grandma’s blog or on a cousin’s website or find that if you write them an e-mail, they will respond to “posed questions.”

And, I bet we all know someone who just can’t or won’t respond in writing...

What is a genealogist to do?

The referenced posted question asked about recording phone conversations with her father and how she might do that. I thought, how brilliant, to record (with permission) a phone conversation that you have with someone where you ask questions of interest and listen to the resulting answers and stories. Quite a few “technical” suggestions on how to do this were proved in response to the post and can probably be found elsewhere on the web.

Do you have your own thoughts on how to record “phone” conversations?

That got me to thinking about when my daughter was in Sevilla Spain for a semester, we used Skype to chat. This way we could see and hear one another.

Can one record skype video/audio? Have you done this? Please share what you used?

Apparently yes. I did some Google^TM searching and there are some programs out there for just this purpose.

Then, I got to thinking, what about Voice over IP (VoIP) calls through some other provider like RingCentral? Though I happen to have a physical handset (I still like to use one for making phone calls when just talking to my computer won’t do ) many who use VOIP phone numbers don’t, they just use their computer’s native mic or they use a headset/mic combination.

Can these phone calls be recorded? Have you done this? Please share what you used?

Are there other ways that we “might” communicate with distant relatives whom we want to interview and yet won’t be physically in their presence to either video and/or audio record them? Any thoughts or suggestions?

Though we can communicate more easily than ever with so many living in so many places, this doesn’t yet mean that it’s like being together with a tape and/or video recorder in hand in the same room. And, can it be?

Editor’s Note: Technology for Genealogy is a closed FB page and that just means that you ask to be added and wait for approval.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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12 March 2013

Family stories stashed in a button jar

Source: http://nabeeloo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/buttons.jpeg

This really neat story found in the Sun Herald, Family stories stashed in a button jar caught my eye.

Another way that we “tell” stories and have items that remind us of historical events and stories.

I was brought up to keep all buttons and to this day I still keep a jar of buttons until it gets full and then they move to my sewing basket. Unfortunately, it more gets used to replace “lost” buttons since craftsmanship is not what it used to be and the buttons are always falling off purchased items.

Does your family have such a collection? Whether buttons or something else? Or some other “collection” of something a bit unusual or atypical that tells the story of your family?

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com