Some people don’t like history because they see it as a bunch of dates they had to memorize in school. Others believe history, being in the past, is not relevant to the present. But the past doesn’t have to mean the distant past, and certain pieces of information are very relevant to the present and the future.
Family
October is National Family History Month. A previous DYK discussed saving family recipes before there is no one left to provide or interpret the information. The same goes for other areas of family history, including medical conditions and diseases that may be inherited. All of this, dates, recipes, medical data, etc. is important and should be documented, but it’s also not all there is to history.
Stories
Have you ever watched Who Do You Think You Are? or Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.? These shows research the ancestral roots of well-known people (actors, singers, athletes, etc.), tracing their genealogy through records and, in some cases, the person’s own DNA.
These shows fascinate me. I love hearing about the lives of the person’s ancestors. The stories of where they came from and what obstacles they had to overcome (and sometimes didn’t) are amazing. Of course, the guests’ reactions when their ancestors’ information is revealed is almost as interesting. (Some people handle the truth about their lineage better than others.) No matter where the research takes them, though, the final results can be very educational. I especially love learning the obscure bits of history that are sometimes revealed. (As a writer, my imagination kicks into high gear with ideas of how I might weave these bits into future fictional stories.)
Regardless of the show or who the show center’s around, they have one thing in common. Stories. Whether interesting, boring, crazy, dull, scary, happy, or sad, stories bring history to life.
Research
So how do you find these stories? It’s not always easy, especially the further back you go. Start with yourself. Record your name, birth date, and other important and interesting dates and events. Then move on to your siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, slowly moving further and further back on the family tree. Some documents may already be in your family’s possession (family Bible, letters, and photographs), while others can be found online (ancestry.com, newspaperarchive.com, and findagrave.com) or in a local institution (courthouse, church, and school). Don’t forget your living relatives—young and old. Interview them. Ask about family events, holidays, and scandals. Some relatives may have first-hand knowledge of these. Others may have heard about them from those with first-hand knowledge. You never know when something someone remembers will provide a new clue to investigate.
DYK it may help to think of history as a body? Event dates are the skeleton, but dates alone aren’t enough. It needs other pieces of information to create the rest of the body. It’s only when all that data is gathered and woven together, the stories revealed bring the history body to life.
Last Thought
Remember, family history is more than the names of your ancestors and the dates they were born, married, and died. It’s the stories of their lives. Good or bad, every generation leaves a mark on the next. Something they said or did helped make you who you are today, but without these stories, you may never know what it was.