Monday, May 28, 2018

Write Family History Now, Add or Change Later


Thinking about writing your family history? There's no time like the present. Anything you write will be a real gift to your family and to future generations, whether you write about a special family photo or trace the life of a matriarch or patriarch.

If all you have is a photo and the names of some or all of those pictured, you've got enough to make a good start. The goal is to write as much as you know about who, what, when, where, why, and how. Today, you may only know "who" and "when" but tomorrow, when you discover "where" or "when," you can add that to your write-up or make corrections.

Always ask family members for help. Many times, cousins can identify people we've never seen or met. Photos can also trigger recall of a family story that adds color and personality to the family history.

Here's a photo taken at the NYC wedding of my parents, Daisy Schwartz (1919-1981) and Harold Burk (1909-1978). When I was writing about their courtship and marriage, I asked several cousins to help identify the wedding guests. Unfortunately, we identified only four of my mother's maternal aunts and uncles shown here. Still, I kept moving ahead with my write-up.

A few weeks later, one cousin suddenly remembered the name of the lady seated fourth from the right. Based on this new info, I located the lady's son and ultimately connected his branch to my great-grandma's family tree in Hungary. Because of my cousin's memory, I now have more names, relationships, and stories to add to my family history.

Never give up! Eventually, we identified the last two "unknowns" in this photo as more cousins on my mother's side.

Please, do the "write" thing for the sake of future generations. There's no time like the present for starting on this gift to the descendants of our ancestors.

NOTE: This is part of my series about writing family history:

5 comments:

  1. Great points!!! And, you should share your writings and photos online :) For example, in a blog post! I have had a lot of cousins contact me after finding something I wrote or a photo I posted on my blog!

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  2. Marian, you are right. If we put if off till everything is perfect; every question is answered; and every photograph is labeled our work will not see the light of day. We can always write Volume 2! ha!

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  3. Again, you hit the nail on the head, Marian! I'm guilty of that - I tend to wait until I have answered "all" my questions before writing. Probably still will, but at least you've got me writing about other subjects in the meantime. Since your post last week, I've put up two of my own and have you to thank for that. Keep writing those great posts.

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  4. Blogging is certainly a great way to think out loud. Sometimes I learn more after blogging about someone and later write a new blog post to update or correct the older one. Some family members follow my blog as a "first draft" before they get the paper-based family history.

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  5. Thank you! A well-timed reminder for me. I get caught up in researching and forget the simple steps. Posting a photo for one of my branches is the perfect next step!

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