Can I run something by you all...?

[MythicalMarian]

I am now at saturation point with ancestral information, and although I wanted to start writing up the history a couple of months ago, the new discovery of yet another of my Mum's lines got in the way of this and I found myself researching yet more folk. For the moment, I have decided I MUST call a halt to this and begin to put everything together while I still have some brain cells left. Therefore, I turned once more to ideas about the format of a family history.

I know I definitely do not want a dry narrative; I would much prefer to combine my love of family history with my love of history in general, and especially my love of writing. I have hit upon the following idea - please tell me if you think it's daft.

I intend to call my history 'Ancestral Voices' and I thought I could write short accounts - first person narratives - of several of my ancestors whom I've come to know and love throughout my research. I don't mean that each ancestor would tell their whole life story, but they could tell of a time that was very significant in their lives. An example would be my 3xgreat grandma Ann Linney, who lost her husband and two sons in one day during a local mining disaster. I thought I could have Ann tell us this 'as it happened' so to speak - i.e. she had their meal on the stove, she was wondering why they were late etc., and all the horror and fear she must have gone through when the news broke that there had been an accident at the pit. That's just one idea.

Another could be my 4xgreat grandad John Pigot who was actually in Jamaica when the slave revolt of 1832 took place - John could give us his account etc.

I would try to use a representative of each line I had traced. Even those who have little 'flesh on their bones' could perhaps give us an account of life as a shoemaker or a farmer in such and such a year in such and such a place. I could also start from the earliest ones I know and work downwards to make it a historical journey through the ages.

Each personal account could be accompanied by a family tree of how the person fits into my family history, together with photos, certificates, snippets from wills etc. (Or this could all go in an Appendix) Within the little stories I could put all the background research I have done, so that it is part of the whole picture rather than just a dry passage of 'Cheadle in 1760' or something.

What do you think, guys and gals? Would this be a lively and interesting way to go about things?

I'd really appreciate the opinion of all you wonderful folk on here - especially those who have laboured to write up their own histories. It seems such a huge task, but for me, the personal approach - having the ancestors actually talking to us - fills me with more enthusiasm than trying to wrestle something lively out of the run-of-the-mill report from FH or other such packages. :)

[Sue Mackay]

Sounds interesting!

I would certainly urge you to get stuck in. The beauty of word processors is that if you do discover a new line or further information on an ancestor, it is relatively easy to change a chapter without having to re-write the whole thing.

I wrote my family history up as a story, mainly because that was the only way I could get my son to read it, let alone keep it after I'm gone. However, it was amazing how many times, as I was putting the story together from a filing cabinet full of notes, the significance of a date struck me. Like the ancestor who worked on the Crystal Palace who would have doubtless taken his family to the opening day, which was his son's 16th birthday. Or the ancestor whose wife died on their first wedding anniversary.

You'll really enjoy writing it, and you will also think of other avenues of research that you hadn't previously thought of!

[Geoffers]

I am now at saturation point with ancestral information

You must have the other half of my amulet.


I know I definitely do not want a dry narrative

Good - really boring - especially those produced by family history programmes


I would much prefer to combine my love of family history with my love of history in general

Good - try to present the history in a way which can draw out others interest (however dormant) in history.


I thought I could write short accounts - first person narratives - of several of my ancestors whom I've come to know and love throughout my research.

Sounds interesting. If you have lots of original source documents (photos, letters, wills, even census and military records, etc), you might break up the narrative a little with embedded images, short extracts of letters, newspaper clippings, etc. But then you may prefer to keep the narrative as stand alone. Maybe try two versions for one person and see which looks and reads best?

If you're writing is up to it, for any stories from the 17th century and before, perhaps try handwriting the account in Secretary Hand (on tea stained paper?!) and include a typed transcript for those who cannot read it.


An example would be my 3xgreat grandma Ann Linney, who lost her husband and two sons in one day during a local mining disaster

There's an example, maybe get a newspaper report of the accident and take the headline to begin your narrative?


Each personal account could be accompanied by a family tree of how the person fits into my family history, together with photos, certificates, snippets from wills etc.

The way I've presented these sorts of documents (my narrative writing is not really inspiring) is in separate folders or portfolios as though each is a bit a of reference library - but for those reading the history they have only the relevant information in front of them, they don't have to go looking through endless reels of census films as I did years ago. The source documents are loose so family members can pull them apart and make sense themselves of the history and match documents to the family trees. Each document has a reference so that it can be put back in the right place fairly easily.


What do you think, guys and gals? Would this be a lively and interesting way to go about things?

You're trying something different - so good on you for that. I say give it a go


It seems such a huge task, but for me, the personal approach - having the ancestors actually talking to us - fills me with more enthusiasm than trying to wrestle something lively out of the run-of-the-mill report from FH or other such packages.

See my comments above about fh programmes

[carolchipp]

It sounds like a great idea and one that could work well with your love of writing. Future generations, especially the younger ones might be more inclined to read it in this form.



If you have lots of original source documents (photos, letters, wills, even census and military records, etc), you might break up the narrative a little with embedded images, short extracts of letters, newspaper clippings, etc. ......
There's an example, maybe get a newspaper report of the accident and take the headline to begin your narrative ...

I agree with Geoffers here and was going to suggest something similar to tie the fiction element into the facts - just as at the end of a film drama based on a factual story the documented historical facts sometimes appear on screen as the story ends. It helps to illustrate the reality of the story you're telling.

Carol

[spison]

I think that if you believe in an idea it will be successful so I'd go for it.

I find a narrative good for recording what I've found and my thoughts on my next 'plan of attack' but I don't plan on publishing. If I do I'll have to think seriously about the format as many I've seen are dull.

You idea sounds interesting.

Jane

[MythicalMarian]

It sounds like a great idea and one that could work well with your love of writing. Future generations, especially the younger ones might be more inclined to read it in this form.



I agree with Geoffers here and was going to suggest something similar to tie the fiction element into the facts - just as at the end of a film drama based on a factual story the documented historical facts sometimes appear on screen as the story ends. It helps to illustrate the reality of the story you're telling.

Carol

Yes, Carol - and of course thank you Geoffers! This is exactly what I intended. The newspaper account of the mining disaster for instance - I would tie in with that. There's an added bonus in that too, because in the newspaper account of the aftermath another of my ancestors (the two families actually came together a generation later) is mentioned as visiting the bereaved families on behalf of the colliery to offer assistance to the needy and this would be an effective way, I think, of showing the two sides of Mum's family in one story.

I'm going to get started....:)

[Waitabit]

A wonderful chance now to 'go for it'
Something is telling you to do it NOW! & you have the colour & empathy to do the stories justice.
Not an opportunity to put aside when you feel you are ready & you must be to have posted your query.

Put the daily computer 'fix' on hold Girl & give forth.

Enjoy your research all over again as you write.
http://bestsmileys.com/textinbubble3/2.gif

[Wirral]

I intend to call my history 'Ancestral Voices'
You could have a separate section for the "black sheep" called "Ancestral Vices"! ;)

[MythicalMarian]

You could have a separate section for the "black sheep" called "Ancestral Vices"! ;)

Nice one, Wirral :) I certainly have a few of those.

Thanks for all your encouragement, folks. Everyone is so wonderful on this Forum. I don't know what I'd do without you all. I can't promise not to nip in and out while I'm working on my project. ;) In fact, I may post a tiny snippet of something to get your feedback in a few days or so. Then you can tell me whether or not it's going to work.

[Geoffers]

You could have a separate section for the "black sheep" called "Ancestral Vices"!

.........and for the unwashed poor in years gone by "Ancestral Lices"...........sorry! this is getting a bit off track

[Mutley]

I think it is a wonderful idea.

My granddaughter, only a youngster, did a school project recently. She asked me for information on one of the ancestors. She then produced an A4 page folded in half to make four A5 pages on the life of her gggran. Some pictures and text mixed with a bit of history,
very simple, very readable and very interesting.
She gained the top marks in her year.

If she can produce something simple then I have no doubt you will produce something great.
Go for it, you are in the mood so NOW is the right time. :)

[Ed McKie]

Having bored myself stupid reading some of the stuff I have written over the years in my attempts at putting my research into narrative form, I would suggest that anything other than a dry run through the data has got to be good. You idea sounds interesting and could work although I wouldn't attempt it myself having a bit of an aversion to "hysterical novels" that my wife reads.

Having said that, my excuse for continuing to write is my belief that any written family history, no matter how bad, is better than no family history at all.

Final caveat: if like my you are pushing on a bit, then don't make it too long :-)

cheers..Ed

[Carmy]

I especially like "Ancestral Vices". I've been thinking of doing a similar thing, but I would have a section called "Ancestral Mysteries". Thus far, on one side of my family, a very large amount of money seems to have appeared from nowhere. We're hoping further research will tell us where it came from, but for now . . . Who knows?

[Johnzee]

Every bit of good advice in these messages - go for it.

I am constantly perplexed by the differences between the members of my wife's and my own families and am now almost through writing up both. Took the aspect of choice of family forenames and how they reflected the views of the day (there are no catastrophic events to excite the mind and to ponder on the inevitable or chance death of child/ren-husband-wife is just too ..... . Accidental death, before an age considered to be "normal" was part of our ancestors' daily lives, almost expected, and I believe it is nigh on impossible for us to understand their forebearance and resilience).

My wife's boring lot of John, William, Evan and David, are repeated through the generations -a Welsh bunch of dissidents and conformists, and my own lot of Jabez, Isaac, Israel and suchlike - a Welsh/English bunch of various dissidents. These names pointed to a clash of religious views within the families dating back to the late 1700's (and continued to the 1950's!!!!!). As far as I can tell all could read and write - more so for my wife's rellies who could read and write in English, Welsh, Latin, biblical Greek and a bit of Hebrew. In their own way they made and wrote history - their own and others, yet today there is little "flesh" on each even with their Georgian and Victorian effusive obituaries. We have little understanding of how their minds worked, their daily lives, who they met, their academic adversaries and their trials and tribulations. The boring daily grind that we do today - and quickly forget - was a major part to life then as it is now.

My Danish grandfather emigrated, by himself, at the age of 12, from small-town Denmark to London, then straight to NZ. To do that he must have gone through the later part of the Franco-Prussian war yet he never said a word about it. We have his fabulous account of his 150 mile horse ride through the mountains and forests of NZ in the 1880's. Why one and not the other? Was it because war was normal to him and mountains not so?

I was told that I had some French blood via the Channel Islands. Great story, but even better is perhaps the truth that one "black sheep" was removed there from England before his questionable deeds transformed the family image. Both now are basically "stories".

How we wish for fuller records.

However, I have found myself in the trap of having written my thoughts into the thoughts of my ancestor - the start of that slippery slope of re-writing history just to make a good story. It was done in the Old Testament - there is truth in it but how much - and what will our descendents think of our stories - just a good read or the basis for war - it is their decision. Our contemporaries should know which is which but perhaps it will not be so clear in years to come.

Both families, much to my chagrin, never went as far as to use that ancient family history program BBB (Boring Bible Begats). From my point of view there is a small but necessary place for the "begats".

Take care - truth is stranger than fiction, but a well-told story certainly gets the attention and enthuses the reader.

Cheers

Johnzee

PS Having re-read all the messages and thought about it, I may have to re-write my own FH - another 6 months down the drain. What's that if you are having fun.

[AnnB]

Fantastic idea Gail, when does the subscription list start ;)

I'm not terribly keen on books written in the first person (says she whose list of favouriye books has Rebecca near the top!) but, in the case of family history I think it is the best way to approach it (and it gives you ready made chapters). I can't make any more suggestions than those which have already been mooted (particularly in the case of using newspaper accounts ;))

If you get as involved in compiling the book as we did when we wrote a book about a local shipwreck, you won't have much time for anything else........

Very best wishes
Ann

[esdel]

A wonderful chance now to 'go for it'
Something is telling you to do it NOW! & you have the colour & empathy to do the stories justice.
Not an opportunity to put aside when you feel you are ready & you must be to have posted your query.

Put the daily computer 'fix' on hold Girl & give forth.

Enjoy your research all over again as you write.
http://bestsmileys.com/textinbubble3/2.gif

A wonderful idea Gail!
And especially take Waitabit's suggestion to heart: ENJOY IT!

Your aim is to get others to enjoy it too, want to read it and pass it on - a family heirloom for the 22nd century and beyond!

Try to find some stories of joy, success and happinss to balance out the mining disasters.
Some very negative trait of human nature fills our newspapers with disasters, but there must come a point, where ancestors are concerned, that we CARE enough not to enjoy it. "Others" is alright the more remote from us they are.

As for uplifting stories, have another read of the recent thread about "simple Mexican fishermen" revelling is what they have rather than yearning for "competition and growth above all". http://www.british-genealogy.com/forums/images/smilies/sm2-hug.gif
esdel

[MythicalMarian]

Thank you all so much for your comments - they are wonderful as always. And to inject a bit more variation into things, I have chosen to have one of my lot tell her little piece in the form of a journal. And yes, Esdel, I will put in some joy as well as hardships, for I think that is equally important.

And Geoffers - off topic or not, I can imagine there was quite a bit of lice about :D But I have got a nice mixed bunch of people in my tree. From very poor to very posh and all sorts in between, so I hope that will also inject some variation.

See you all soon, folks.

[arthurk]

Sounds a good idea, and I hate introducing a caveat, especially as I doubt I will ever write up my own FH into any kind of narrative, and don't manage to read much these days either.

My hesitation is over the blending of fact and imagination: I'm sure it will make it more readable and something people can get into, but I wonder if there's a danger that in years to come people will be convinced that Ann Linney was cooking a hotpot rather than baking bread when she heard of the mining accident (to give a trivial example), because gt gt gt gt grandma Marian wrote it in a book, so it must be true, etc etc.

So as well as the narrative, I wonder if it would help future researchers who might use your work as a source if you included an appendix with a list of the dates and events on which you have based the story. Just a thought.

Arthur

[Wirral]

An excellent book that I have is "Pompeii - The Living City" by Alex Butterworth & Ray Lawrence, ISBN 0297645609, published 2005 by Weidenfeld & Nicholson. On one hand it is a scholarly work using the most recent archaeological & historical research; on the other hand the authors have interwoven a fictional narrative that is based on all this research. The fictional parts are written in italics, so that it is easy to see which is fact & which is fiction.
A good indexing system for your sources also helps.

[MythicalMarian]

Sounds a good idea, and I hate introducing a caveat, especially as I doubt I will ever write up my own FH into any kind of narrative, and don't manage to read much these days either.

My hesitation is over the blending of fact and imagination: I'm sure it will make it more readable and something people can get into, but I wonder if there's a danger that in years to come people will be convinced that Ann Linney was cooking a hotpot rather than baking bread when she heard of the mining accident (to give a trivial example), because gt gt gt gt grandma Marian wrote it in a book, so it must be true, etc etc.

So as well as the narrative, I wonder if it would help future researchers who might use your work as a source if you included an appendix with a list of the dates and events on which you have based the story. Just a thought.

Arthur

Caveats welcome, Arthur - especially to one who is a historian first and only secondly a family historian :) I will write a full introduction explaining the format of the work and of course I will supply all refs in an appendix. Some of the accounts can be verified by research (for instance, the stuff on my Jacobite rebels etc) but when we come to someone like Ann Linney, as you mention, I will make it clear that I have imagined that day and Ann's reaction to it, while giving references to where a researcher could find the bare bones of the event as it unfolded.

[Ladkyis]

I think this is a marvellous way of writing the family story. I wish I had thought of it myself. As soon as I started to read your description of how you were going to do it I was creating the journey my great grandmother took to Liverpool in 1875 when she began her acting career at the Theatre Royal.
From future certificates and information I know she remained in close contact with her family all her life so I have often wondered how she felt as she left her father's showroom on that day.

With your permission I would like to use the idea myself.

[busyglen]

And just to add my two penn'orth, I think that is a fantastic idea and wish you all the best. I love writing, although not terribly good at it, and I am sure that once started, you won't want to stop. ;)

Good luck.

Glenys

[arthurk]

Caveats welcome, Arthur - especially to one who is a historian first and only secondly a family historian :) I will write a full introduction explaining the format of the work and of course I will supply all refs in an appendix. Some of the accounts can be verified by research (for instance, the stuff on my Jacobite rebels etc) but when we come to someone like Ann Linney, as you mention, I will make it clear that I have imagined that day and Ann's reaction to it, while giving references to where a researcher could find the bare bones of the event as it unfolded.

Good - I just felt that somehow and somewhere you needed to indicate where the boundary is between fact and imagination, and I'm sure you'll find a suitable way to do that.

Arthur

[spison]

An excellent book that I have is "Pompeii - The Living City" by Alex Butterworth & Ray Lawrence, ISBN 0297645609, published 2005 by Weidenfeld & Nicholson. On one hand it is a scholarly work using the most recent archaeological & historical research; on the other hand the authors have interwoven a fictional narrative that is based on all this research. The fictional parts are written ....

Another book using this type of strategy is "The Black Death" (Sorry I've forgotten the author) where the story of its approach is told from the point of view of a village in Cambridgeshire (I think- but certainly somewhere in this area). Alternate chapters cite the references used in a report form. Names from the historic documents were characters in the story.

Jane

[MythicalMarian]

I think this is a marvellous way of writing the family story. I wish I had thought of it myself. As soon as I started to read your description of how you were going to do it I was creating the journey my great grandmother took to Liverpool in 1875 when she began her acting career at the Theatre Royal.
From future certificates and information I know she remained in close contact with her family all her life so I have often wondered how she felt as she left her father's showroom on that day.

With your permission I would like to use the idea myself.

No permission required, Ladkyis - just go for it. I wish I had an actress :D Nice to know how it fires the imagination, and I am sure that all of us have at some time or other felt that we 'know' a certain ancestor that we have researched - so why not put it all to use and write it down? I wish you well.

[Geoffers]

Your idea reminded me of something similar, and haing trawled my bookshelves I've found the book in question. 'Life on the English Manor 1150-1400 by H S Bennett - first publ. 1937 and reprinted 1987 by Alan Sutton, includes in the prologue a week in the life of a peasant farmer; it's very readable. If you wanted to get an idea of how something similar to what you have described actually reads, this may help..........just a thought.

[Wirral]

Another book using this type of strategy is "The Black Death" (Sorry I've forgotten the author) where the story of its approach is told from the point of view of a village in Cambridgeshire (I think- but certainly somewhere in this area). Alternate chapters cite the references used in a report form. Names from the historic documents were characters in the story.

Jane
That is another brilliant book, written by John Hatcher, published by Weifenfeld & Nicholson in 2008, ISBN 9780297844754. It is set in the village of Walsham, Suffolk, northeast of Bury St Edmunds & not far from where my ancestors came from (none of them mentioned of course!). I wonder why I got funny looks when reading a book on the Black Death on my summer holidays? Seemed a perfectly good choice to me!

[Jade26]

... An example would be my 3xgreat grandma Ann Linney, who lost her husband and two sons in one day during a local mining disaster. I thought I could have Ann tell us this 'as it happened' so to speak - i.e. she had their meal on the stove, she was wondering why they were late etc., and all the horror and fear she must have gone through when the news broke that there had been an accident at the pit. That's just one idea...

...Each personal account could be accompanied by a family tree of how the person fits into my family history, together with photos, certificates, snippets It seems such a huge task, but for me, the personal approach - having the ancestors actually talking to us - fills me with more enthusiasm than trying to wrestle something lively out of the run-of-the-mill report from FH or other such packages. :)

It will be a huge task, but I think your idea is wonderful. Having our ancestors actually talking to us and sharing their emotions through times of joy and grief is a great way to pass on one's family history.

As an historian you'll be well aware of all the extra research you'll need to do for historical authenticity. Taking Ann as an example, would she actually have been waiting at home wondering why her men were late? Or would she have dropped everything and and joined the crowd of women and children making their way to the mine after hearing the gut-wrenching wail of the siren?

All the very best and please, please, share some snippets with us.

|cheers|Trish

[Hollytree]

Hi

I've skimmed through all your discussions with interest. I too have started up with the old writing of family history, but every so often stall with research that takes me away from writing the narrative.

I wrote a book a few years ago based on my ggrandmother who married out of her class and subsequently fell on hard times. Now I never knew much about her, no photograph survives, and she died young. So this was my strategy to compensate for sparse true evidence of her. Not published needless to say, but highly enjoyable in producing what I thought might have been the reason she married this man.

Another thought passes my mind, don't forget to write your history, your thoughts wants and hopes. I was at a conference yesterday and made to realise what a disposable world we live in now, nobody writes letter with ink and quill, uses a stamp and post box. We email every body, leaving no trail of our existence. Write that journal every day, keep a diary, write 'granny's ramblings, go to schools/scouts/guides etc etc and tell your story....... they are teaching the 1980's at school as history these days.


Anne

[merseyclyder1970]

MythicalMarian,

Having been away from this site for months, I looked on the forum to see if anything interesting had been posted and I came across your post. I would just like to say that I think that you have a very interesting idea, and I would like to wish you every success in your endeavour. Good luck.

[MythicalMarian]

MythicalMarian,

Having been away from this site for months, I looked on the forum to see if anything interesting had been posted and I came across your post. I would just like to say that I think that you have a very interesting idea, and I would like to wish you every success in your endeavour. Good luck.

Thank you very much, Merseyclyder. I have drafted quite a few of the little 'tales' now, so I'm well on the way with the project.

[DBCoup]

Hey MM that sounds like something I would read. Please don't tell me you haven't started yet. I have been writing up my research for a couple of years (started when I had to be on hand for my wife after her hip operation - visits to the library were out for a couple of months) but I lack the artistic/creative ability to create anything along the lines you are proposing so, with my scientific training to the fore, I have contented myself with an annotated catalogue of players - hopefully it is not as "dry" as it sounds. It IS well researched though :)
Good luck with your endeavour (although I am sure, as always, good management will obviate the need for luck)
daryl

[Hils Hoppo]

I have just picked up on this thread because the title caught my eye. I have been emailing various cousins around the world for sometime now with the latest discoveries and have also sent them the full tree as it stands to date with over 300 names going back, on 2 branches, to the 1690's.

It occurred to me that this must all seem a bit dis-jointed to anyone who hasn't actually laboroured over the research until their eyes could take no more! So what I've done alongside the list of major events in a particular line, such as b/m/d's and census, is to write an account of one person's life. For example the latest is my Gt Grandma who was born the youngest of 8 children of a shipwright in Rotherhithe. I've elaborated on all the events that would have shaped her life including tragic deaths and a couple of spells in the poorhouse. I'm afraid there doesn't seem to have been much joy in her life, but she comes across as being a person who spent her whole life caring for the others in her life.

What I've tried to do is 'bring her alive' to others the way she is to me in the hope that the present members of the family will start to see how these ancestors have shaped our lives and made us the people we are today.

I love writing but don't think I am up to writing a whole 'novel' about my ancestors but who knows in time these short accounts may just grow!

Good luck to all those embarking on a similar mammoth task and also I cannot thank enough all you wonderful people who have looked things up for me and solved mysteries just when I have felt like giving up - what would we do without you all!!|hug|

[Rachandgarry]

Wow, it sounds like a wonderful idea! Good luck!

It is a very pertinent question I would think for all genealogists, how to present it all, what to do with it... I'm still undecided (and still in research stage!) but can't imagine that I would be creative enough to do what you are doing. I am more of a science/maths girl, so having anything other a list with simple dates and places would be brilliant for me!

I liked all the title suggestions, Ancestral Vices, Lices etc... right now mine would have to be called "Ancestral Idiots - people designed to ruin my research!!" tee hee, just kidding!

Best of luck with your work,
Rachel

[v.wells]

"Ancestral Idiots - people designed to ruin my research!!"

Rachel

Love that Rachandgarry! What a great title! I may have to borrow it! :D