PBS has been running a show for the last few years from Henry Louis Gates called Faces of America and now NBC is running a show on Fridays nights called Who Do You Think You Are. All these shows on family histories are making the topic hot and part of water cooler dialogue. All family history starts with you.
If you want to create a family history you need to talk to the senior members of your family. That means talking to relatives that you may never have talked to before or relatives that you have not talked to in years. They are the key to finding that next generations. Many will say, “I know nothing about the family or its history.” But if you take the time to talk to them and when you talk to them about growing up, ask them questions. Ask them questions that are not yes and no answers. That may open them up to thinking about the past and you might find they do know more than they really thought. All this before you go do genealogy and start the task of going to libraries to open the treasure of information there.
But again it starts with you. And you can add to the legacy by writing your own story. If you do, someone in the future does not need to do all the work you are doing! I think it is a work of love and the love gets moved for the future generations of your own family. And that is why my book helps you give that gift to future generations of your family. You may want to use the triggers to help those senior members of the family talking and thinking. I use the memory essays to have people think in a story form and then the triggers are to key on the subject. They may help you write or get that family member to talk about there stories too!
