Writing Your Family History

WRITING YOUR FAMILY HISTORY

One of the greatest gifts my father gave me was a little mimeographed booklet called “Still Climbing.”  In that book he recorded family history which I would never have heard in any other way.  He was delivered by a blind doctor in rural Iowa.  Apparently, the doctor forgot his name when he got back to his office and filled out the birth certificate with the name John.  Years later, after being called Arthur all of his life, Dad applied for his first passport and found out that the birth certificate said he was John.

I want to encourage you to bless your family with a similar gift.  You don’t need to write a book.  I am going to suggest several possible ways to package such a gift.   You choose the one which fits you best.    

ROUND ROBIN LETTERS

It may be too late for some of us to use this idea, not because of age, but because of the disappearance of letter writing as an art form and the appearance of Facebook—which is not an art form.  My mother came from a family of thirteen children, born to the Joe Josephs of Alexandria, Minnesota.  Speaking of family stories—I need to share one here.  When my mother’s ancestors came over from Finland their name was Stjerna, meaning Star in Finnish.  But, believe it or not, there were so many Stjernas in northern Minnesota that the brothers decided to change their names.  My grandfather became Joe Josephs.  Another of his brothers took the name Josephson and one branch of the family changed Stjerna to Starr.  If any of you have tried to do any work in genealogy you know how difficult it is at times to trace your lineage.

Anyway, back to the Round Robin.  In 1950 the thirteen Josephs children decided to start a Round Robin letter.  It traveled around the United States approximately four times each year for the next forty years.  Each time the large envelope arrived, a family would take out their previous letter and enclose a new one.  So each member of the family received news from all the others and could respond by writing one letter instead of twelve.

After the Round Robin had been flying for about 25 years, Elmer, one of Mom’s brothers, sent each family a gift.  Like most of the others, our family had discarded their own letters when the mail came.  But Elmer had photocopied every letter when it came to him.  He bound those letters together according to families and the Allen family received from him a copy of almost one hundred letters, an accumulation of family history which would not otherwise have been preserved.

SCRAPBOOKS

But if you were to walk into the sitting room of my 99-year-old mother-in-law you would see an entire bookshelf full of scrapbook memories.   I don’t have a great number of scrapbook items from my folks, but what I do have is of great personal value.  One I treasure is a telegram which reads “Rejoice in the Lord.”

Dad had finished his graduate training at Northwestern Bible and Missionary Training School and had enrolled in another degree program at the University of Minnesota when he was asked to hold a week of meetings in Baker, Montana.   He was dating Verna Josephs, but as a poor college student they couldn’t afford to get married.  Half-way through the week, the church board asked him to accept the call to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Baker, Montana.  He sent this telegram back to Minnesota with few words because you paid per word.  Verna knew what it meant.  He had a job and they could get married.

Just one note about scrapbooking.  Be a blessing to your children and grandchildren by carefully identifying all your pictures.   Otherwise, they may have no idea who is who in those wonderful photographs from fifty years ago.

FICTION LOOSELY BASED ON FACT

When I decided to write a family history for my kids and grandchildren I started with a series of stories I had been sharing with them down through the years.  When our children were young I invented two characters named Jic and Joc.  They were loosely based on my younger brother David and I.  Their adventures loosely followed some of the events we had experienced growing up.  But those were oral stories, ones I had never taken the time to write down.

So, several years ago for Christmas, I gave each family a book called “Big Sky Adventures.”  I told each of the adventures of Jic and Joc which I had shared, and then gave the rest of the story, the real story behind the fiction. 

FAMILY TESTIMONIES

On the anniversary of my mother-in-laws ninetieth birthday my wife’s sister, Marjean Moffitt, blessed the family with a book called “90 Years of God’s Blessing.”

Marjean gathered testimonies of salvation from family members.  Counting all the descendents, spouses and grandchildren of the Odens family the number came to more than 130.  In addition to the salvation testimonies of Grandma and Grandpa, Arthur and Marie Odens, there were the recorded experiences of each of the seven children, their spouses and as many of the grandchildren who were old enough to understand and share their testimonies at that time. 

QUESTION AND ANSWER TIME

One of my mother-in-law’s granddaughters came to her with a list of questions a few years ago.  She asked for a time when Oma could provide answers to those questions.  The question and answer time became a book which she shared with the rest of the family.

Those of you who may be hesitant to write your own story could use this means of providing a family history for your descendants.  Invite one of the grandkids to do the work and let everyone share the blessing of the result.

RECORD AN INTERVIEW

The availability of video recording on almost every cell phone has enabled everyone to become a film- maker.  One of the easiest types of film to make is a man-on-the-street interview.   Invite one of your children or grandchildren to be the journalist.  They will surprise you with their ability to manage any technology involved.  Keep the setting informal and don’t worry about editing, that can be done later.  Ask your reporter to write up a list of open-ended questions which need to be answered with more than just a yes or no.  Another idea is to use memory joggers such as documents, letters, photographs, scrapbooks and other family heirlooms to stimulate memories.  Enjoy the conversation or several conversations with your family reporter and then turn them loose to transform the interview into a family heirloom.  You will be amazed at their creativity.

WRITE A “FIRST DAY IN THE LIFE OF” STORY

One of my writing goals yet incomplete involves writing a one-day history of the first day in the life of each of our five children.  Google has made part of that project very easy.  I can check headlines from that day, news stories, what music was at the top of the charts, what newspaper cartoons were popular and just about anything else I want to include.  Others will depend on my own memory, or perhaps more accurately, on my wife’s memory.  We have baby books that will contribute factual details—weight, length, and  time of arrival.  But I want to recall the emotional impact of each birth as well, and maybe that is why the task still awaits. 

PREPARE A TIMELINE

Writing your life story may  seem like an overwhelming task.    I would encourage you to start with something that will be invaluable to you if you decide to later write that autobiography.  A year-by-year timeline will be a blessing to your children even if you don’t ever write the book. 

Whatever you choose to do regarding family history, I want to encourage you to start right away.  Alex Haley, the author of Roots said, “When an old person dies without having told his story, it is as though a library burned down.”  Your family will be blessed if you provide your life library for them in written form.