Writing Family Histories

Sharing our Links to the Past
by Wally and Frances Gray

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FAMILY HISTORY TIDBITS
By Wally Gray

Writing Family Histories

Recently I came across a humorous article on a “New Device” called BOOK. It described a book as a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. (To obtain a copy of this article see References below.)

Seriously, a book remains the best way to record your family history. You can circulate to your family members. It can be referred to at will, passed around and enjoyed.

In this article I will describe subjects that should be included in a family history and how to get it published inexpensively.

Who to Write About and Who Gets Copies?

Who will you write about? It could be you or a contemporary family member, or an ancestor. You need to decide who will get a copy of the history. In my case, I have written books about myself, my parents, my father –in-law and my mother-in law. These histories have been sent to our children, our grandchildren, members of the extended family, and friends. They make excellent Christmas presents.

It was easy to write about my parents and my wife’s parents because of written and oral material they have left. In the case of my father-in-law we have a collection of remarkable letters he wrote to his sweetheart (my wife’s mother) over a period of 14 months. These letters pointed out farm life in Iowa and included poems and cartoons. We added the story of his life.

My mother-in-law had written many articles on her life and we had prepared a series of notebooks with pictures and writing for her ninetieth birthday. Since we wanted all family members to get what was in these notebooks, we started converting them into published volumes and distributed Volume 1 this past Christmas.

For contemporary subjects see below for questions to ask.

In all these books we have used many photos. Photos cause the reader to look through the book!

Why write a history?

I personally have considered it my responsibility to write about myself, my wife and my parents and ancestors because, if I don’t do it, who will? I am not sure that all family members have read the books we (my wife and I) have produced, but they have them, and at some time in the future they will be glad to have the material. Most of our family have been enthusiastic about what we are doing.

Questions to Ask of Yourself Or Others:

Here are some subjects you can ask in your interviews: birth (where, when, etc.), siblings, school days, school-time activities, courtship and marriage, settling down to married life, challenges and achievments in your career, children, civic and political activities, church activities (youth and adult), avocations, celebrations of holidays, plans and hopes for the future, encouragement and counsel to your or their descendants. Under “References” below I have listed the Everton Publishers web site where more details on each of these subjects is given.

Tell the story plainly, using uplifting experiences and use humor. Again, pictures are a important part of the history. Use headings and other typographical devises which add variety and interest. Include white space: don't crowd your text.

In some cases I had tape recordings which we had obtained in the past, mainly of our parents. For the book on my parents I had a CD made of the cassette recording and included in each book.

How Do You Frame and Organize the Topics?

Organize in chapters, each devoted to a particular period or subject. Also include a title page, a page addressed to those receiving the book, a table of contents, pedigree charts and/or family group sheets and other genealogical information, a list of material in book, film, or Internet form that may be available (using call or film numbers, web site addresses), a list of descendants and a names index. An index is very important. It makes the book valuable as a reference. I prepare the indexes manually entering the names and page numbers on a spread sheet in the computer and then have the spread sheet program sort the names alphabetically (by last, then first name.} I print the names in columns. (Your word processing program is equipped to do this.)

How Do You Produce the Book?

Compose the book on your computer. Have your spouse or another second party proofread and edit it many times during and at the final production. A second party can give all kinds of suggestions. It is surprising how many errors you can pick up each time the manuscript is checked.

Pictures are entered by using a scanner. My Microsoft Word program allows me to wrap the text around the pictures, and use various fonts and interesting uses of the type.

After the book (still on your computer) is read, re-read, proofread, (from draft print-outs), burn the finished product on a CD or other type of disk and take it to a print shop. Use a shop that will print directly from the disk. That way you are not losing the clarity of the photos and text. I used OfficeMax to do the job. I had the shop print on 3-hole pre-punched paper. We placed our finished book in loose-leaf view binders which allowed us to include a front and back cover and spine (the sheets are inserted in the plastic covers of view binders.) There are other methods of binding such as spiral or comb, all of which can be done by your print shop. Or you can buy your own binding equipment. (You can have more than one file on your CD. Just tell the printer how to organize the book from the files.)

Cost

We paid 7 cents a sheet for the printing. We paid $2 for each binder. We were able to produce an 88-page book for $10 per book. We had nothing but black and write pages. Color pages are considerably more expensive. What color photos I had I converted them to black and white or grayscale in the scanning process.

In our next book we will include color pictures. To save money we will do what a friend did. He used his computer printer. We plan to print the color pages on our computer printer, and let the professional print shop do the black and white pages. If you are going to use a computer printer be sure it has archival ink. My friend used an Epson Stylus computer printer. We bought the latest model (C84) for around $100. The ink is permanent and waterproof.

References

"Writing Your Personal History" By Everton Publishers which lists good questions to ask of a contemporary person: www.pgsa.org/writing.htm.

An excellent book to refer to is "To Our Children’s Children: Preserving Family Histories for Generations to Come." (Available from Amazon on-line and at other booksellers.) This includes lots of engaging questions to ask on over 30 subjects such as college, careers, everyday life, etc.)

For the article on the "new device" BOOK see: www.geocities.com/wallygray25/book2.htm

For countless articles on the subject, use the Google search engine and enter “Writing Family History."