Christmas Pressie - any ideas on write ups?

[pipsqueak]

Geoffers - you have some great ideas there. Lesley - I like the calendar suggestion too.

Thank you for those! Better than they usual pre-formatted book idea.

[Lesley Robertson]

Geoffers - you have some great ideas there. Lesley - I like the calendar suggestion too.

Thank you for those! Better than they usual pre-formatted book idea.

For the calender, I used MS Publisher - one of my favourite programmes as I like the way it puts boolkets together.

The trouble with calenders is that they run out at the end of the year - since then I've made a birthday calender to sell as fundraising for the small archive I care for. Same approach but it doesn't expire.

On the subject of that archive, the other thing I've done is to use the "generate your own photo album and then we'll print it" service of one of Holland's shop chains to present images from the archive together with explanatory texts. There's a lot more text that they'd expect, but I just make everything into jpegs and load them in as though they're photos. They look great, and they've got hard covers which makes them more impressive to the point that when people saw the first one (made as a gift), they started lining up to buy the things! I'm now going to use the same system to make a book for my family. If you're thinking about making a book, it's worth looking to see what's possible in your area. They do insist that you use their software.

Lesley

[Mutley]

Many people are incorporating both their family history hobby and their scrap-booking hobby.

If you google 'Scrapbooking' you will find there are suppliers that sell all the acid free products and many give ideas for interesting layouts on pages.

For an old lady I think the book should concentrate on visual items first and depending upon her response and the questions she asks, you can add pages as a follow up anytime. She may send you off in all sorts of directions by asking you a simple "I wonder what happened to XXX"

Could keep you going for years!

[melsibob]

I was surpised nobody had refered to A......Y - you can now create projects using the information held in your tree - including photographs. I have only tinkered with this - but it seems you can print them off yourself or order professionally printed documents. It might not suit everyone's taste or pocket but it does give the beginner (me!) ideas about how to set out the vast amount of information you gather.

[Jillychris]

I have written a couple of folders for my family.

I wrote it starting with my Grandparents calling it the Life and Times of xxxxx and xxxxx with photo's of the individuals or as a couple depending what I have.

Starting with my Grandfather's life photo's, certificates family stories etc then a tree of his family. I wrote up his Grandparents, then his Great Grandparents depending on the information I have. Also putting in information about the area lived in, occupations, workhouse, hospital, times etc whatever is relevant.

Then I wrote up my Grandmother in the same way with a family tree to show her Grandparents etc, census they are in, baptisms.

I only put in one birth, one marriage and one death certificate as I didn't want overload of certificates.

They have been very well received because I have always been interested in family history I knew stories the rest of my family didn't know or had forgotten so it was very interesting for them.

I found a special licence for my Granparents in the local record office which I photographed and included which made it all the more interesting as we didn't know they married by special licence.

I had great fun writing them and they can be altered as I find more information which I have done. Eventually I would like to have them put into print to save for future generations.

Regards
Jill

[Summer]

Wow, lots of ideas now, thanks everyone!
I'd better get cracking or it will be next Christmas before I get it all together!!

[MythicalMarian]

Although Christmas has gone, and Summer has no doubt used all the brilliant ideas on here, I just wondered if I could add something about presenting a family history to a relative at any time of the year. One of the things I am always asked when I supply a family tree for an aunt or cousin is: 'Just how did you find out about all this?' They stare at me with wonderment, and learning about the journey to discovery is as entertaining for them as the material generated. The people in my family love ferretting out a mystery, so it has always been my ambition to present a family history for them that evolves chapter by chapter (I think this is along the lines of what Geoffers was saying) along with how I discovered the information myself.

This doesn't have to be boring, and can be turned into quite a story, including odd anecdotes about particularly helpful or unhelpful staff at libraries and the like. Each chapter could end on a mystery or cliffhanger - along the lines of: 'So, the question now was: How to find Arnold,' - or something.

I first took tentative steps into family history when I was about 11, by asking my Dad questions about his family. He knew next to nothing, and now, years after his own death, I have traced his line back to 1720 and have over 500 descendants of the last (or should that be first?) known progenitor in Cheadle. Amusing stumbling blocks and brick walls along the way can add some colour, as well as what research has been necessary to put flesh on the bones. This kind of project may not be to everyone's taste, of course, but I know my lot would love it, and I do intend to detail how I found the ordinary ag labs as well as the mariners; the modestly wealthy farmers as well as the Jacobites.

Such an approach would also serve a double purpose, especially for younger members of a family who may be thinking of doing their own research at some time, as they would learn what steps were involved along the way. If it were written in a lively way, it may also help to garner new recruits to this wonderful hobby of ours, as tracing a family tree - beset as it is with the brick walls - can be great fun. I know I've enjoyed myself over the last 23 years.

[Oates]

Bit late now, but for future reference...

I did this for my grandma (only surviving grandparent) a couple of years ago when I first started. Mine was fairly simple. I only focused on her ancestors for that booklet just to make things easier.

I began with one chart showing her ancestors and another one showing her descendents. I also downloaded a map of parishes of the West Riding of Yorkshire (where nearly all of my ancestors were from) and coloured it in with a key to show the places where her ancestors had lived by surname (e.g. all the parishes where the Smiths had lived could be green). I then downloaded lots of family group sheets from genesreunited and filled them in for each generation of each line. I then chose the most interesting census for each family and put one behind each family group sheet.

I then added more sheets as I saw fit with each family. For example, one branch lived in the North Riding of Yorkshire so I made another parish map and put that with them. I also wrote about the relevent areas with pictures for that branch. For most branches, I wrote about their jobs - for example, what all of the different jobs in the mills involved, about children in the mines, or what being a cordwainer involved and such, making it relevent to the family tree and including pictures of ancestors and other general images. For one branch, I had a picture of a family gravestone which I included and wrote about, including what the children had done after leaving home.

Then my mum got in on the act and wrote a biography of my grandma's life, made a cover and put the whole lot in a ring binder with a plastic cover.

Also, my great uncle did a lot of family history with his son and was kind enough to lend me the box of their research. Along with the certificates and records, there were typed letters from his son detailing the lives of each ancestor in the direct line through the BMD records and censuses, with little bits of history and geography mixed in and questions still to be answered. Their purpose was sharing information for research, but I think something similar would be nice to make into a booklet as a present.