Any ideas on how to spice it up?

[sindylin]

Perhaps not the best title....|blush|

But I am currently writing the history of my mother's family going back to 1800 and ending in 1994 when the last person of my grandad's generation died.

so far I have used info contained in/on:-

Births, marriages, deaths, census returns, wills, trade directory entries, photos of residences, graves and of the people themselves where available, maps, My mum has given me some first hadn accounts on later people. I also have a few misc items, a couple of letters I found and documents relating to the building of a house my G grandad had built in 1895.

In addition to these facts I have also added some local history (the town where most lived didn't exist until the railway came) info on domestic servants (as quite a few were) illegitimacy (quite a few were!!!) what their houses were like that kind of thing. (I've stayed away from fashions as its such an enormous subject) also I haven't bothered with national and world history otehr than the two wars.

I feel I have put some meat on the bones, but can anyone suggest some things I have forgotten that are easy-ish to get hold of that would add a bit more meat!!!

thanks
sindylin

[Jan1954]

First, have a read of this thread (http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38544). There are some ideas on how you could present the information so as to make it more "interesting". I use the word advisedly, as everybody's family history is interesting, but may not seem so to the writer/researcher.

Secondly, have a look in the Parish Chest bookshop (http://www.parishchest.com/shop/index.php?cmd=listdepts&cat=D1680). There could well be something in the Social History section that could help put more meat on those bones. Some of the sections link through to specific geographical areas, where there are some hidden gems. What about old maps (http://www.parishchest.com/shop/index.php?cmd=listdepts&cat=D1788) as well that could show how the area changed over nearly 200 years?

Edit: Just re-read your post and you already mention maps - are they comparative ones?

[Astoria]

I would get Oates on board, that lady can write, and I bet she works for certificates. :D

[sindylin]

Thanks for the links, will have a look at those shortly.

With regards to the maps, I have various ones showing how the area changed that I got from the local library and I have also plotted the areas the various families moved to.

I am starting it in 1800 when the "key" figure, my g g g grandfather was born. I am then covering all of his children and their descendants ending in 1994 with the last death) Perhaps I am being a bit too ambitious here but I have traced so many now it seems daft to stop!

My GGG grandfather moved from a rural village in Sussex to an equally rural area in Surrey, he started up a business which grew at around the same time as the new town that emerged with the coming of the railway so I have been able to weave his life and times into the changes that occurred.

The area where he set up in Surrey was then named after him.

this is why I have started with him, although I do have baptisms and marriages of his ancestors going back as far as the late 1600's.

this book is mostly for fellow family members but I am planning on giving copies to the local history societies and libraries.

My husband can get it printed for me in proper book form which is lucky!

sindylin

[LittleMissP]

Any military service in the family, or have you got that covered already?

[Charles Rignall]

Hi -

I have boxes of paper I would like to turn into something coherent - I believe the answer is character, character, character. Give us every little idiosyncracy and anectdote that helps people come alive. My great great grandmother is said to have locked herself in her bedroom for a week because my great grandmother married an Irish girl ---- actually she was a perfectly nice girl whose family came from Hull --- but that kind of thing.

Charlie Rignall

[Geoffers]

because my great grandmother married an Irish girl

I'm not surprised your great-great-grandmother was surprised.

[Feen]

I'm not surprised your great-great-grandmother was surprised.

|jumphappy well there's a bit of family history that doesn't need spicing up.

Charles, lucky you having "boxes of paper" - I wish I did! Mum used to talk about moving house in the 50s and throwing lots of stuff out |banghead|

Sindylin, have you checked out the local newspapers? I'm sure you will have and I don't want to sound like I'm trying to teach you to suck eggs or anything, but you didn't specifically mention them so..... Small ads could be worth looking at too; they can be quite illuminating but a heck of a job over such a long period, if the paper hasn't been digitised :eek:

[MartinM]

Have you thought of looking at lifestyles; The way our ancestors shopped, dressed, ate (recipes etc) How they spent their time at work and at home, early holidays etc?

These are areas I am working on with my lot, in order to make their lives more than just facts and figures.

Good luck

Martin

[Oates]

Personally I think finding out about professions is one of the most interesting bits, and that was my focus when I made a family history booket for my grandma. Also, making parts of it into stories adds life. Perhaps typical day in the life type things would be good (either found or written by you) and writing about the quality of life.


I would get Oates on board, that lady can write, and I bet she works for certificates. :D

:o Thanks Astoria

[Browneyes]

I was taught that when writing about someone it's important to think about context - everything that happens around them - the people they mix with, the current events happening around them and the changing 'world' they live in, all things that help to mould their lives on earth. How they reacted to changes or perhaps how they were unique or became part of a new attitude...like women involved in the Suffragette movement or perhaps carried on a tradition that has disappeared now. Whether they would have been affected by strikes or extreme conditions. If they were members of clubs that still exist today, and so on. Reading how people coped or reacted can make a reader wonder if they would have done the same given those circumstances and highlights the character’s determination or resourcefulness. Perhaps something they did, however small, meant that moment had a specific impact on their own or someone else’s life.

Also wanted to say “well done you” for all your effort. One day in the future someone will pick it up, thoroughly enjoy it and appreciate what you have done.

Browneyes x

[sindylin]

Also wanted to say “well done you” for all your effort. One day in the future someone will pick it up, thoroughly enjoy it and appreciate what you have done.

Browneyes x

thank you! Lets hope they do! (presuming this was aimed at me??)


As for newspapers, I found one thing that related to this family but thats it....they didn't really do anything amazing, they were just ordinary folk. I was hoping to get a couple of obituaries but don't know where to start. Does one wade through newspapers around the time in the vain hope that something springs out at you? Or are there any online newspaper archives for the UK?

My mother has a few tales of my g grandparents as she visited them many a time and we have been back to the house and the present owner showed us around, she'd seen us outside and wondered what we were staring at she was most intrigued to hear the story!

My grandmother is still alive (aged 93) but she is a bit senile now and doesn't remember much about her husbands family. And she threw all of the really old photos away many years ago...grrrrrrrr

I have ordered a copy of the book "Enquire about everything.......etc...etc...." whichw as printed in 1891 and has all sorts of things that Victorians did, or beleived in and was an eseential book of its time. Anyone else heard of it or read it?

The wars, beleive it or not, didn't really affect the family, no-one died or was bombed, only one chap who got shot and was deaf as a result and I have included that.

Not being a Victorian history expert (despite reading a good few books on the subject) I would hate to misquote or get things wrong, so have stayed away from political history and heavy subjects.

Many thanks indeed for all of your ideas, anymore?? let me know.

Cheers
sindylin

[Browneyes]

(presuming this was aimed at me??)

yes it was :)

[Jan1954]

I have ordered a copy of the book "Enquire about everything.......etc...etc...." whichw as printed in 1891 and has all sorts of things that Victorians did, or beleived in and was an eseential book of its time. Anyone else heard of it or read it? I have a copy and find it fascinating. I dip into it from time to time, when I am mulling something over about a particular ancestor. It is available from our sponsors, Parish Chest (http://www.parishchest.com/shop/index.php?cmd=viewproduct&cat=&id=P82677&pageOffset=0).

[Astoria]

Newspapers are fantastic for building a picture around your family especially the adverts, auctions and homes for sale. I found an obituary for my G. Grandad in 1927, next to it an advert for a garage still operating today, a Morris Oxford Coupe £245, Austin Seven £145.

When my G. Grandma died in 1931, Jack Audley and his "Varieties" were packing them in at the West End Pier, and for 1/6d I could solve the problem of my facial hair :)

It does take time to search through the local papers week by week, but well worth it.

[Astoria]

I get so side tracked, I go with the aim to seek a birth announcement or wedding and before I know it, I am scribbling about the size of mussel nets or the Methodist circuit, because a name pops out.

What impresses me most is the interest in the wider world, news of India and the Colonies. Of the conflicts in South Africa etc.

A section for the ladies and for children, and even a jokes section (racist in the extreme, on many occasion.)

When I win the lottery I shall make an offer for that filing cabinet which they can't refuse. Or I might just buy them a half decent reader/ printer. :)

[Charles Rignall]

I'm not surprised your great-great-grandmother was surprised.

Oh for pity's sake. That is why I better never actually write anything. I'll have the whole thing backwards, like Benjamin Button.

|blush||blush|

Charlie Rignall

[Zelley]

Every life is a series of stories!

As an example, in one piece that I did when I was comparing London, England with Nanaimo, BC, Canada through the eyes of a child, I took images from London and a real event in Nanaimo.

I called it "The Flower Lady and The Iceman"

In talking about one of the great grandmother with the birth name of LEWIS,
I went back to her days as a child in London and called it
"Echoes Of Angel Alley".

Concerning the death of a great uncle as a child, I wrote a poem
and it was published. The death took place in 1897, in about the same
location about 1956, I fell from a docked sail boat and couldn't swim,
but didn't drown or hit my head when I bobbed-up.

On a site from the place where the 1897 and 1956 events took place, I posted Stories with the first being called
"Echoes From The Storm".

[sindylin]

many thanks for your replies.

I shall see what I can do!

It was fortunate recently that my great aunt celebrated her 100th birthday and she and her sisters (all in their 90's) were in a nostalgic mood at the party and the chat was all about their parents and grandparents, cousins and so on, snippets of gossip and such like so I scribbled down what they were saying, when I got home I typed it up before I forgot it! Real eyeopener some of it!!! :)

sindylin

[Nicolina]

something else you could add - photographs, then and now. Try Googling the place name and see what is available,
I've been very fortunate with photographs from several cousins and keep trying to get another cousin to write the story of our mutual ancestors because she does it professionally. It would read like something from Mills and Boon though, very spicy.

[sindylin]

Yes thats something I have tried to do but there aren't any old photos of where they lived, but luckily the most of the Victorian houses they lived in are still standing and one chap had all the deeds going right back to the time my 3 x g grandfather had it built which was handy! the house hasn't changed much on the outside. A local historian who I talk to regularly has written two books on the area and he says I can use his photos.

I am luckier on my father's side as there are lots of photos of the people concerned and my grandmother and her sisters are all still living and all in their 90's, one was 100 on 13th April! So plenty of recent photos. I even remember my g grandfather so I can at least speak from experience there! thing is the book is aobut my mother's side! hay ho!

I stayed with my nan throughout my childhood so have lots of us together.

Many thanks for the reply :) Good luck with your research

sindylin

[benny1982]

Hi

I have often wrote biographies on selected ancestors. The selected ones are ancestors who have caught my imagination. I have written many bios using images and photos so that I can read them when I like.

Ben

[DBCoup]

I am lucky that some of my lineages are self spicing
Plenty of Naval connections, a privateer (even though I cannot get traction on that one), Rabbis, Writers to the signet, children allegedly lost in a bush fire or taken by a dingo, surgeons, someone shot by her son-in-law (accidentally), arrivals in New Zealand in 1842 and in America c 1742, soldiers in India not to mention servicemen in both world wars.
MY challenge is to do them justice |book|
daryl

[benny1982]

Hi

I tend to write up books on ancestors who had a colourful life, or moved around a lot. One of my ancestors moved 100 miles from her birthplace to go into service.

They are more interesting than ancestors who were born, married, censusised and died in the same village, but even then there may be some who catch my imagination. All of my London ancestors are interesting.

Ben