Family Historian--A Labor of Love

This post is an article published several years ago in The Best Times, a newspaper for seniors in the Kansas City area. I have changed it a bit and added to it, as well.

I’m the Family Historian for both sides of our family. We didn’t hold an election that I won. The job fell naturally to me because I’m a writer and maybe because I am the eldest of four.  It might also be the fact that I care deeply that our history is passed on to future generations.

    

You needn’t be a professional writer to take on this important task. All that’s necessary is the desire to preserve the stories and history of your family and the ability to string words together. Write it like you’d tell the story sitting around the dining room table after a Sunday dinner. That's the place where we learn a great deal of our family history. 

   

You don’t have to start at the beginning. Anywhere is fine. Write a story, print it and put it in a notebook. Then write another. Chronological order is not
necessary. Little by little, your notebook will become fat with stories about your grandparents, your mother and father, your siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

    

A good place to trigger memories of your family tales is in old photo albums. Dig them out, dust them off and leaf through the pages. Memories will come flooding back. If you’re lucky, there will be names and dates on some or all of the pictures. If not, guess at the time period. You’ll come close.

    

Interview the older members of your family, even neighbors who lived nearby. Some folks get so enthused they end up doing research at the library or online to help them learn more about relatives in the distant past. They find out when Great-Grandpa came to America through ships’ records, or where someone lived by checking the census records. There are websites that will help you determine dates and more. The one I like is Family Search, but there are others. Some are free while others require payment. Family Search is free and sponsored by the Mormon church. But the Family Historian needn’t go that far. Use your own knowledge and what you learn from other relatives to write the stories. You’ll still have plenty.

    

Someone might say that their family never did anything important enough to write about. I bet they did because the little everyday things are important to those who care about the people involved. They aren't celebrities most likely, but they are your family, and that's pretty important.

    

For example, my father’s paternal grandmother came to Chicago from Quebec. She never learned to speak English. She spoke nothing but French. She made lace, then used it to fashion elegant baby clothing which she sold to Marshall Field's famed Chicago department store. It’s something I’d like my children and grandchildren to know. She probably rode the streetcar in the early 1900's with her precious baby dresses carefully wrapped, ready to sell to the Buyer in the Infant Department at the store. That last part is supposition, but if you mention that she 'probably' or 'may have, then it's alright to use it. 

   

My maternal grandfather was taken out of school at age nine to work in a coal mine. He never finished school and spent the remainder of his working years in the mines. My mother walked to the mine after school and waited for his shift to end. They’d walk home together and talk over the day. The fact that my mother met her dad and they walked home together may not be important, but it shows their relationship, that she loved him enough to spend this end of day time with him on a regular basis.

My husband's maternal grandfather, a German immigrant,  had a unique way of naming his two youngest children. It was so interesting that I wrote a fictionalized version that has been published. The No-Name Sisters can be read here.

    

Three stories from both sides of our family, but I refuse to let them fade away. Be the Family Historian for this Labor of Love, or find someone in your family to handle the job. It's your family history and it deserves to live on. What a legacy for you to leave! It is not necessary for this person to be a professional writer. Anyone can do it. Also, give consideration to the Family Historian in the next generation should be. Enlist their help now to give them a little experience and to help them develop a love for keeping your Family History.

Being A Family Historian Is A Labor of Love

I submitted the following article to an editor in the Kansas City area several weeks ago. He did not respond which translates to most writers that the article was rejected. Monday, I received a check in the mail from said editor who had published my article in the June issue of The Best Times. The magazine, which is both print and online, is for seniors but my article is pertinent for all age groups.

I'm posting it below to once again nudge all of you to write those family stories. I can attest to the fact that the effort will be appreciated. I recently assembled a 167 page book of family stories and memories for my three younger brothers. All of them, and their wives, thanked me for the gift. Each one said it would be passed on to their own children and grandchildren in time to come. I had already written the stories. All I had to do was visit a copy center and purchase a 3 ring binder to put them in. That way, any future stories, can easily be added. 

Family Historian--A Labor Of Love

By Nancy Julien Kopp

I’m the Family Historian for both sides of our family. We didn’t hold an election that I won. The job fell naturally to me because I’m a writer and maybe because I am the eldest of four.  It might also be the fact that I care deeply that our history be passed on to future generations.

    

You needn’t be a professional writer to take on this important task. All that’s necessary is the desire to preserve the family stories and the ability to string words together. Write it like you’d tell it sitting around the dining room table after a Sunday dinner.

   

You don’t need to be chronological. Start anywhere. Tell a story and put it in a notebook. Then write another. Soon, your notebook will become fat with stories about your grandparents, your mother and father, your siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. Also stories about yourself.

    

A good place to trigger memories of your family tales is in old photo albums. Dig them out, dust them off and leaf through. Memories will flood back. If you’re lucky, there will be names and dates on some or all of the pictures. If not, guess at the time period. You’ll come close. Family bibles often have personal records in them that can serve as memory triggers for the stories that abound about your relatives.

    

Interview the older members of your family, even neighbors who lived nearby. Some folks get so enthused they end up doing research at the library or online to learn more about relatives in the distant past. They find out when Great-Grandpa came to America through ships’ records, or where someone lived by checking the census records. But the Family Historian needn’t go that far. Use your own knowledge and what you learn from other relatives to write the stories. You’ll still have plenty.

    

Someone might say that their family never did anything important enough to write about. I bet they did, because the everyday things are meaningful to those who care about the people involved.

    

For example, my father’s grandmother lived in Chicago but never learned a word of English. She spoke nothing but French. She made lace, then used it to fashion elegant baby clothing which she sold to a famed Chicago department store. It’s something I’d like my children and grandchildren to know.

   My maternal grandfather started work at age nine in a coal mine. He never finished school and spent the remainder of his working years in the mines. My mother walked to the mine after school and waited for his shift to end. They’d walk home together and talk over the day.

    

Two stories from two sides of my family, but I refuse to let them fade away. Consider this labor of love for your grandchildren. Write the funny things, the scary ones, and even

the very sad. It’s your family history and deserves to live on. What a legacy for you to leave!

Family Historian---Take It Seriously

My parents and me in 1942

Last Friday, Veronica Breen Hogle, wrote here about job descriptions. Hers is Family Historian. Veronica has a rich and colorful history which she brings to life so very well in her stories. I have taken on the role of Family Historian in my family and, I think, in my husband's, as well. 

Ken's Aunt Fannie played that role in her large, German immigrant family, and I eagerly anticipated the stories she told. Sadly, she didn't write them down, but I have written several of them. The one problem with that is that they may lose something as they are moved on from one person to another. Still, it is better than not having any written record at all. 

Do you have a Family Historian in your extended family? In the family of your spouse? If you don't, it's time to begin. Family history is true treasure. The funny stories, the joyful ones, and even the tragic episodes in a family's journey through life--they're all of importance. No other family has exactly the same history, yours is unique, and it deserves to be passed on to your children, grandchildren and future generations. 

Besides knowing what has happened within a family, these stories can sometimes be of importance in medical issues that pop up now and then. There have been a few times when my son has called and started a conversaton with "Who in our family had ______?"  And usually, I can come up with the answer.

Where do you begin this job of Family Historian? It's not necessary to begin at the beginning, whatever that might be. Write each story as it comes to you, when something or someone triggers a memory. Or when you attend a family reunion, jot down notes and write the story when you get home. A good trigger for these memories is to sit down and look through old photo albums. If you're lucky, your generations-back relatives noted dates and names on the backs or underneath. The photo with this posting is from an album my mother started when I was just an infant. This picture was taken in the back of my grandmother's apartment building in suburban Chicago when I was around 3. We're all dressed up. Maybe it was Easter Sunday.

I count myself as fortunate because my mother was a storyteller and so was my Aunt Vivienne, my dad's sister. I listened to countless stories from each of them, some repeated many times. It's possible some of these stories were a bit embellished, but the basic facts were there. Hearing so many stories, often told around the dinner table, left me with a tapestry of my family history. My father told family stories, too. If you come from a family that doesn't have a rich storytelling history, you'll have to use other means to delve back through the years. Do look up those photo albums, Interview older family members, even old neighbors who will remember many happenings. 

Don't say that you aren't very good at writing these kinds of stories. That's one excuse I find unacceptable. There's no doubt that some Family Historians will bring a story to life better than others, but the most important thing is to have a written record to pass on. Step up and take on the job. What better legacy could you leave?

Guest Blog--What's Your Job Description?

Meet Veronica Breen Hogle, today's Guest Blogger. Her thoughts for us are below:

Last week a tall, trim, silver-haired friend named Joe, two days younger than me died unexpectedly.

“His big generous heart just stopped beating.   He died quietly at home with me and our daughter, Anna,” his wife told me.   I joined a long line of people at the funeral home to pay my respects. Joe’s body wasn’t there because he’d willed it to the medical school at the University at Buffalo.  In the middle of the week  on a sweltering day,  people crowded into the church where he had been an influential leader to remember  Joe, the elementary school teacher, husband and father of five adult children.  His hobbies were folk dancing and magic.   People said Joe’s greatest gift was his ability to build community through activities.  This was his legacy.

I thought of my own legacy.  Because my mother left my father when I was two and couldn’t rear me herself, I grew up under the wings of my grandmother and her invalid sister and her husband in Bagenalstown, County Carlow, a little railway and flour mill town on the Barrow River, 68 miles south-east of Dublin.  These family members lived and fought during World War 1 and World War 2.  I listened to their stories so often, I felt like I’d been there in the trenches with them.  While telling me their stories and without noticing it, they gave me the job description of family historian.  I received the old family photographs, letters, postcards, and the bits and pieces that were important to them.

When I went to school, the nun wrote the title of our composition on the blackboard every Friday.

“Use your five senses. What does the person look like?  How does she sound? How does she smell?  What does she eat and what does it taste like?  Paint a picture with words” she told us.  On Monday, she had her hand out to receive the required two pages written with a wood pen with a two-penny removable, brass nib, which required great care to put it in and take out.  When ready to write in the circle of light from the oil lamp, I dipped the nib into the bottle of black Indian ink, tapped it lightly on the side of the glass bottle to remove any excess ink so it would glide across the paper with just the right sound of a squeak and not leave any forbidden  ink blots on the paper. 

No one from my family is alive in Bagenalstown now.  All are clustered together and tucked in beneath the clay in the little hilly cemetery two miles outside the town. The Barrow still flows through the town and the train stops in the railway station eight times a day on its way from Waterford to Dublin and back. Bagenalstown still has no traffic lights.  The Church Belll rings out the Angelus three times a day and the church clock rings out the hour and half hour.

It’s been a long time since I was groomed to be the family historian.   I will write about my family and the stories they told me around the sweet-smelling turf fires long before we had television or a radio.  I’m Just an ordinary person who uses writing and the five senses to take readers to a place in a certain time and introduce them to ordinary people who underneath what you see at first are extraordinary people in their own way.

So what’s your job description?  What gifts will you pass on?  What will people say about you when your heart just stops beating? 

Bio: Veronica Breen Hogle has won six prizes for writing short memoir pieces about growing up in small towns and villages along the Barrow River in Ireland.  Her stories appear in magazines, newspapers and books in the US, Canada and Ireland.  She’s the mother of four adult children and grandmother of four grandchildren. She enjoys working in her flower garden, folk dancing, travel, baking fruit cakes, being a host parent to international students and writing short stories about growing up in Ireland when only the hospital, the doctor and a few merchants had phones.  She puts her writing skills to work by writing grant proposals for nonprofit organizations and to elected officials suggesting ways they could improve services to her and their other customers.  

Read some of Veronica's stories at Our Echo. Select from a three page list of titles.