Showing posts with label ancestor biographies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ancestor biographies. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Book Review: Storytelling for Genealogists

Since my emphasis these days is on writing family history for the sake of future generations, I was drawn to this concise and affordable new book by Doug Tattershall, Storytelling for Genealogists.

Tattershall packs a lot of ideas and info into nine chapters plus a humdinger of a worksheet, and an index. The table of contents includes:

  1. Why Family Story? - "We work hard to discover our family tree," writes the author. "But what we really want to know is our family story." So true. Names and dates don't illuminate ancestors' lives. That's why this book is so helpful.
  2. How to Tell a Good Story - Engage readers. Then plot a course and find a theme to keep readers interested.
  3. The Stuff - Put meat on the bones by researching and interpreting history, biography, and "affective history."
  4. Puzzle Pieces - We have facts, but we may also have fiction. How to put the puzzle pieces together in the right way and in the wider context.
  5. The Value of Things - Going beyond words to tell the story with images, heirlooms, places, and more.
  6. Format - Text, audio, and/or video? Considerations as you choose a format to tell your ancestor's story.
  7. True and Good - "You've done fact-finding. Now it's time to spin a tale," the author says, and he goes on to explain how to make the story interesting without getting bogged down.
  8. Before You Write - Tattershall recommends outlining first to establish how to organize and present your story, with examples. Yes, outlining really works.
  9. Conclusion - "Your family history is a story worth telling, and therefore a story worth telling well." 

Although I would have preferred a little more elaboration on the key points in this slender book, I appreciate and agree with Tattershall's emphasis on telling an engaging story, well beyond names and dates with sources. 

In particular, I recommend his Family Story Worksheet, shown on p. 81. The worksheet serves as a quick-start guide to completing the components needed to spin a tale that will interest the next generation and beyond. 

Storytelling for Genealogists is an excellent, practical, readable book for anyone who wants to bring family history alive through storytelling.

Please note: The Genealogical Publishing Company sent me a free review copy of this book, and it has previously provided free review copies of other books. My reviews always reflect my honest opinions, without regard to any outside influence.

Saturday, January 8, 2022

Bite-Sized Bios for Earlier vs Recent Ancestors



When I write a bite-sized bio for ancestor who was known to me or my relatives, I frequently have so much material that I have to pick and choose to make the bio both brief and informative. 

There are so many recent genealogical sources available, as well as family letters, diaries, and family photo albums, that I have a rich cache of content. Plus, older cousins who remember these people can share stories that make the bios more vivid and add personality well beyond the basic facts.

What can I learn about earlier ancestors?

However, writing a bio for an ancestor who died before the 20th century can be more of a challenge because nobody alive today knew that person and rarely do I have personalized sources. 

Still, my bio for someone who died more than a century ago usually includes: birth, marriage(s), and death dates and places (where known); parents' names; spouse(s) name(s); occupations; residence(s) and land ownership; military service (if applicable); children's names; geographical movements; and some social/historical context.

Sources for writing bios of earlier ancestors

I get these details from sources such as (but not limited to) multiple Census records, vital records, military records, naturalization records, city directories, newspapers, obits, and county histories. I use Wikipedia, history books, and other sources to add a bit of background, such as about immigration trends or frontier life, when I weave the basics into an interesting story told in my own words. 

Sometimes there are scant sources for a much earlier ancestor. Then I write what I can, emphasizing details that I do know--such as where that ancestor is in the birth order of siblings, how many of that ancestor's siblings survived to adulthood, what that ancestor did for a living, whether that ancestor married, and so on. These bios are not as long or rich as bios for more recent ancestors, but I do try to make them interesting and bring out the human angle.

Other times, I can dig up a considerable amount of content for an ancestor who died more than a century in the past. When my husband and I were in Indiana a few years ago, we cranked a local library's microfilm reader to research ancestors in 19th century newspapers. There we found a wonderfully detailed obituary for hubby's 2d great-grandfather, Benjamin McClure (1812-1896)--a truly great source for an ancestor bio!

The woodcut portrait of Benjamin McClure, shown at top, is also from a 19th century newspaper accessed via microfilm at that same local library.* I've posted the woodcut on FamilySearch and other sites where I post bios and images, to bring this ancestor to life.

*About copyright: The Legal Genealogist, Judy Russell, writes about copyright and newspapers from time to time--including this old but still informative post. Also see this brief Library of Congress post about newspaper databases. Note that I'm not an expert on the legalities of newspapers/books and copyright, so please do your own homework before using any published content, either words or images, from the past!