Saturday, June 21, 2008

Johnson Reunion


Having fun at the Icelandic Days celebration held in Spanish Fork, Utah this weekend. I had the opportunity to make a display for my second great grandmother Vilborg Thordardottir and give a lecture on How to Write an Icelandic History. The attendees were mostly seniors like me, over the hill but not gone yet. I tried to encourage them to write their life histories as well as the histories of their ancestors to give them a voice. I think we all need to do that-LET OUR VOICES BE HEARD. Writing your own history can be very cathartic and compiling an ancestor's history is intriguing especially if they didn't leave any journals so you have to research their life and times then write creatively. Every person who has ever lived has had an influence on their family and others in some way and deserves to be remember with a history of some kind. 

Have you written your life history?

3 comments:

  1. I haven't written my history yet but I do keep lots of journals. My mom has an incredible life story. It's so complicated. Someday... someday. I agree with you that everybody has a story worth telling and I think it's fabulous that you're trying to help them tell it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The display looks great. I'm sure you're going to come away from this event with some more wonderful stories.

    Glad it is going so well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My husband does genealogical work and has spent many hours at the Family History Center at the local Morman Church. It was through his work that we located cousins in Sweden when we traveled there. He has done some life history writing for some of his ancestors and collects stories from both of our families. Along with extensive picture files and generational charts, he has compilied an enormous amount of material. It's very meaningful to know where you came from.
    As to my own life story, I have not written it yet, but I plan to.

    ReplyDelete