Hopefully every family has at least one special person, either male or female, who cares about preserving their unique legacy and history as a group. Someone who carefully gathers names, dates and photos then organizes this information into some format to share with their kinfolk. If you don’t have a family historian, perhaps you could volunteer. It’s an important job that will require time and diligence, plus a real love of history to compile your heritage. If you are the family’s historian, congratulations. Look for volunteers to help you, and a younger successor to carry on this important work after you’re gone. (Photos of various family histories I've written over the years.)
Why keep family’s records? They can come in handy in cases of disputed inheritances or to gather relatives together for occasions like funerals or reunions. It helps in writing up obituaries, and medical needs can also be traced through a family. Incidences of diseases like cancer and heart problems can promote prevention and influence living family member’s life styles. Written histories of parents and grandparents lives can help preserve their contributions and leave a heritage for families to follow.
To be effective, a family historian needs a persistent and loving nature. They will meet resistance from some of their relatives who don’t want to be bothered with details of their past family’s events or don’t want to answer personal questions like the names, dates and places of their lives. Usually youth fall in this category. They don’t interact with others not their own age, especially older aunts, uncles or cousins who they may not know very well.
What’s a person to do? Don’t give up. Try to interest the younger generation in knowing more about their roots. Use special occasions like reunions, holidays or vacations to introduce their unique family to them. What traditions or achievements have their ancestors accomplished or left as a pathway to guide them? Explore new ways to share your family’s story-newsletters, children’s storybooks (see samples above and below of half size books I make for my grandkids-printed on card stock and laminated before being bound), interactive reunion activities are all fun possibilities. In our day and age anything electronic can entice the younger generation like a family history webpage or blog.
Visit and photograph your grandparents’ birthplaces or where they were raised. Pursuing hobbies that fascinated an ancestor can be interesting and educational. Perpetuate their memories so they can be an influence for good on their descendents of which you are one.
Visit and photograph your grandparents’ birthplaces or where they were raised. Pursuing hobbies that fascinated an ancestor can be interesting and educational. Perpetuate their memories so they can be an influence for good on their descendents of which you are one.