Recording Living Family History

Most people would, and so will your Great Grandchildren want to know about you.

Be warned! If you get the Family History Bug, it will take you down some twisty paths and up quite a few dry gullies. And be aware that there might be a few surprises along the way, like the time, I well remember, when I first started researching our family history.

I asked a well-to-do, elderly Aunt, who I did not know very well, if she would give me some details of her family. She replied, "What do you want to know?"

Now, I had the idea in the back of my mind that you shouldn't ask a lady her age, so, to save her any embarrassment, instead of asking her for her date of birth, I said, "What is Your Father's full name?"

The lady looked quite surprised and said, "Oh! You DO ask awkward questions, don't you?"

It was one of my first experiences with tracing family history and learning how to interview people. You soon learn to keep a straight face, not show surprise, and to be interested without being nosy.

(My biggest failing is saying things that I think are funny, but which make others think I'm a bit cuckoo.)

On another occasion a lady contacted me and asked for information about a family that I had researched fairly thoroughly. She was not recorded as a member of that family, so, when I sent her the information I asked where she fitted in. She replied, " I guess there's a skeleton in every family's cupboard... well, I'm the one in this family's."

Family History research is full of little surprises, and lots of interesting pieces of information too, from war-time experiences to shipwrecks and maybe even a ghost or a convict or two. You never know what forgotten piece of your families past you might discover.

How about finding this in the Parish Register. This excerpt came from a book called "Ancestral Anomalies" - thanks to Diane Johansen who came across it when searching for another family. "William JAY buried the 24 day of March being the last of his name in this parish and an end of a very worthless, malicious, ill-natured family, having for ages been remarkable for oppressing and (as much as in them lay) defrauding the Ministers of this parish of their just dues which character this person kept up to the last day of his life. Witness my hand Rd. TEMPLE, Vicar, Pettistree. 1744"

There is a tremendous opportunity, these days, to combine written memoirs with home movies, videos, CD's and DVD's, in compiling your family's history.

David Beardsley has written a straight forward, easy to understand, guide to using Multimedia to record your living family history. His book, and others that you might find helpful, are listed in the Amazon module below.

So she copied your family history information! What are you going to do about it?

If this comment is familiar to you, you have probably had the experience of seeing all your family research on someone else's tree. You might have thought, "I'm never going to share MY information with ANYONE from now on."

This is not such an uncommon situation nowadays, but 40 years ago, when I first started, tentatively, to try to find out something about my forebears, it would have been a most uncommon occurrence, if not unheard of.

Why? Because family history researchers in those days freely shared all their information with each other- and anyone else who would listen - sometimes to the extent of complete boredom. I do not think there was any thought of some kind of ownership or copyright on one's family history research, and sharing information worked both ways. You usually got back as much or more than you gave.

It was like, and I believe it should still be like, a few people working on a big jigsaw puzzle together, each contributing little pieces to complete the full picture.

In the late 90s, I am proud to say, I was one of six family researchers, four spread out over different places in Australia and two living in different countries overseas, who worked together to complete a family history that culminated in that history being published. It was a great experience which built long standing friendships. Each one contributing all he could, and emails flying back and forth with bits of information that led to other revelations. It would never have worked if one of the group had been withholding the results of their research.

Never-the-less, I can understand your feelings if you suddenly find your research displayed on 'Ancestry' or plastered on someone else's website.

I guess most of us have faced that situation, and, unfortunately, many have reacted with the opening remark of this article....

... so what are you going to do about it? There is nothing you can do about it, other than making a big fuss, and you are cutting off your nose if you stop sharing your family history information with others.

Sharing information is the lifeblood of family history research and it is the means of introducing and bringing together family members who might otherwise have never known each other. It is the means of making bonds and building friendships that stretch over generations and reach back other centuries.

The sad part of the situation that presents itself when your information has been copied, is that it could so easily have been avoided. If only the person who wants to use the information had the courtesy to ask you if they might use your information on their website, and if only they would include an acknowledgement of you as the source, your feeling of disappointment, of being used and ignored, might be avoided.

Each of us is living family history day by day.

In a rapidly changing world we need to know "how things were" so that we understand more "how things are". Of course it is very easy as we age to say... ...in my day etc etc...

... but, as I mentioned earlier, your Great Grandchildren will want to know more about you. What it was like when you went to school? Did you really walk to school all by yourself? What is a record player? Did you play football? These are some of the things I have written about in Living Family History.

We look at the Twentieth Century, the clothes we wore, the cars we drove and the fun we had. We will also look at our world as it is now in comparison. Check out the 1950's and read the crocodile's tale, and the snake's tale to 'adda' bit of mirth to your day.

My family history site Asletts is packed with information, including photos, about the many branches of families connected to us. Family names included are, among others: Aslett, Francis, Fulcher, Garrard, Morris, Powell, Saunders.

This is the day by day story of our journey through Great Britain as we searched for information about our various ancestors. We invite you to come with us on our adventure as we trace our Suffolk roots.