From family history research to a family history

This is how I started a recent presentation to the Redlands Genealogical Society Writing Group. My brief was to discuss and outline strategies for turning family history research into a family history. I suggested that a family history is likely to comprise facts – things you’ve discovered with documentary evidence;  opinions– things you think or believe; assumptions – things you have assumed or concluded based on evidence/lack of evidence; and context– things that happened locally, nationally, globally which may have impacted on your ancestors’ lives. As well as these basic elements, family histories can also include memorabilia, family group sheets/pedigree charts, photos, certificates, letters/diaries, heirlooms, etc., etc. Obviously it may not be possible to include physical objects in a book, so an image may have to suffice.

A family history that only contains facts can be pretty boring, whereas a family history full of opinions, assumptions and context, but no facts, is not really a family history. A family history comprises all these various elements with an appropriate weighting or emphasis given to each – the weighting will depend on what you want to write, the amount of material you have, and your audience.

A useful strategy to help achieve balance is to print out what you have written and use different coloured highlighters to pick out each element. Have you highlighted facts in yellow and as a result your page looks like a field of daffodils? You can then decide whether this is appropriate. If you decide there is an imbalance, you can then take steps to adjust the balance. A page full of densely written text can be difficult to read, so try inserting a photo or a map or other image to illustrate your points.

Following on from an earlier point, you don’t have to start at the beginning and work your way forward nor start at the end and work backwards. You can decide who/what you want to focus on. This enables you to gather together the relevant material, read through it to highlight points of interest and renew your knowledge base. You may identify some gaps you hadn’t noticed previously, which may entail further research either before or during your writing. It’s a good idea to practice writing a short piece and share with others to get feedback.

If you focus on who or what interests you the most, you are more likely to keep going. Producing a good draft gives a sense of achievement and confirmation that ‘you can do it!’ Writing about a person of interest can help set the framework for how you structure the remainder of the work.

Some family historians decide they want to write the story of the whole family – paternal and maternal lines, others focus on one branch, either maternal or paternal. Others become fascinated by an individual ancestor, a family business or home, or the ‘ancestral’ home. Depending on your focus, some of these will be easier to achieve than others and some will require a greater effort and persistence.

Another thing to decide is who is telling the story. Are you the author, or are you going to let each ancestor tell their own story? Or, haven’t you really thought about it? When you decide who is telling the story you have covered two significant issues: firstly the tense – past, present, or future; secondly, the point of view – I, we, he she, they.

I used an example from my own family to illustrate some strategies for turning research into text. One of my great-great-grandmothers was Jane Hesketh. I have collated biographical details of her, as follows, but have little other information, so it is quite difficult to create a narrative of her life:

Another useful tool is a timeline, placing an ancestor’s life in the context of local or national or global events. Meg Carney wrote about timelines in an earlier blog post. Depending upon the family history software you use, these can be generated from the data in your system.

I demonstrated to the group how you could create sentences from facts, e.g.1851 census 30 March 1851, Jane Hesketh, age 8, pauper/scholar, Chester House of Industry

Few writers come up with the perfect product at the first attempt, so approach the writing task with the aim of reviewing and editing. The more you write, or read family histories by other people, the more likely you may re-think how yours is presented. Carry a small notebook to jot down ideas as they come to you and/or keep a notebook by the side of the bed – ideas often pop into your head as you’re about to fall asleep.

Let your writing sit for a while after it’s finished before starting to edit. The aim of editing is to improve your written work, not to throw the baby out with the bathwater or adopt a slash and burn technique, i.e. start a major rewrite. We are sometimes our own worst critics. If you do one type of editing at a time, you can focus on different things. Your first edit may be to check spelling of places, names, etc., whereas a second edit may be to use your style sheet to ensure consistency throughout. Are all your facts correct – have you included appropriate citations?  

A few final words. Writing a family history is a major task, not one that will be done over a weekend. If you take your time and enjoy the writing process you will take pride in the end result.