Ten questions to ask in a family history interview

There has been an interest in how or what to ask when speaking to a relative. Here are some suggestions;

1.  What was your profession and how did you choose it?
2.  How did you meet your spouse?
3.  How did you spend your holidays?
4.  How did you choose the name of your children?
5.  Did you participate in any school activities?
6.  What were the fads when you were growing up?  Hairstyles? Music? Dancing?
7.  Are their any physical characteristics that have been passed down?
8.  What are the full names of your siblings?
9.  What chores were you expected to do growing up; what was your first chore?
10. What would you like future generations, your descendents, to know about you?
11. Did your family have a tradition such as a 4th of July picnic or a yearly family trip?

Family history isn't just about names and dates.  It's about getting to know where we came from.  Events that shaped who our parents were and how they parented.  Find out what was important to them and what they did for fun. What they did for fun growing up and the places they lived.


Discovering why your family has a tradition different from other families or what makes your family extra special will be a treasure you will pass down to future generations. So, don't be afraid to ask, just be respectful.

Researching in Ireland

Name, location, and date are the keys to finding your Irish ancestors.  It's a daunting task to find the records of an Irish ancestor without most of that information.  To begin search documents from their home country, anything from obituaries to wills could hold keys to their origins.  

The information could include the town they were born in or a piece of land they own in Ireland.  Once you have that information it's much simpler to search the Irish records to find birth certificates and the census records.

Overseas Research Helps

Have you recently found an immigrant and you're not sure how to start your overseas search for more information?  Familysearch.org has some wonderful how-to videos and podcasts with PDF handouts available to print out.  In return, all they ask for for course feedback.  

They have everything from learning the basics of Italian and Irish research to learning how to read handwritten records from Europe.  And my personal favorite was "If Only I'd Known:  Beginning Genealogy Mistakes."  I wish this video had been available when I first started learning my way in the world of Family History.

GM

Family heirlooms can tell alot about our ancestors!

Family heirlooms are amazing items.  I was just watching an episode of Antiques Roadshow that had a "sampler" done by a relative in the late 1700s.  The sampler was not in particular good condition and not cared for well.  In the condition it was in the expert maintained that it was still worth several thousand dollars at auction.  

We may feel our family heirlooms are priceless simply because of what they mean to us.  They show what was important to them or even what type of household they came from (poverty, middle class, affluent), but to others they are worth much more.  If you have a family heirloom, it wouldn't hurt to have it appraised, take pictures of it and place the pictures with your family history then remember to include it in your homeowner's insurance.