Let Those Who Follow You Know Who You Are, a Post by R. Clint Peters (Part 1 of 4)

As authors, we spend most of our time writing about other people.  We want our readers to become friends with our characters, to get to know everything about them.  It is important that our readers know our characters.

But, there is another group that might be more important:  our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, and maybe even our great-great-great-grandchildren.

I recently started training to become a Family History Consultant.  It’s a 7-hour per day, five days per week, three week course.  At the end of the day, I am brain-dead from the amount of knowledge I need to cram into my skull.  Something like shoving fifteen kilos of sh** into a five kilo bag.

Why am I going through this torture?  Simply, because I’d like to find out about my ancestors.  What am I learning?  That there are numerous sources from which I can obtain information.  My job, should I successfully complete the training, will be to help others find their ancestors.

Which brings me to the purposed of this post.  I have several memories of my dad’s father, but not many.  And as far as I know, he didn’t sit down and write out his own history.  My own father, some months before he died, started his own history on a steno pad.  I don’t know where the pad is located, so I have little information about him.

I’d like to make a recommendation to all the readers of The Author’s Club blog:   Write your personal history.  You’re a writer, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.  However, the next question is:  What should I write?  Over the next several days, I will provide some basic questions you can answer to create your personal history.  They are broken down into four areas:

1) Early years and family background

2) Teenage Years

3)  Adulthood

4)  Overview and Evaluation

My best recommendation for using the questions is to copy and paste them into a word processing program, answer the question, and then delete it.  This will allow the process to flow as if it was a narrative.

A friend of mine is writing his history using the questions, and has reported that as he writes, he remembers details that he thought were completely forgotten.

I. Early Childhood and Family Background

A. Parents and Family

What is your full name?

Did you have a nickname? How did you get it?

When and where were you born?

Tell about your parents or your family background.

Where was your family originally from?

What did your parents do for a living? Did you contribute to the family income or help parents in their work in any way?

What was your parents’ religious background? How was religion observed in your home?

What were your parents’ political beliefs? Were they involved in any political organizations?

What other relatives did you have contact with growing up?

Do you remember any of the classic stories? Jokes? Songs?

What do you remember about your grandparents?

What stories do you remember about earlier ancestors?

How many children were in the family, and where were you in the line–

up?

Describe what your siblings were like. Who were you closest to?

Describe the house you grew up in. Describe your room.

What were your family’s economic circumstances? Do you remember any times when money was tight? Do you remember having to do without things you wanted or needed?

What were your duties around the house as a child?

When did you learn to cook and who taught you? Were there any special family foods or recipes?

What activities did the family do together?

What did you do on Christmas? Thanksgiving? Birthdays? Other holidays?

What is your earliest memory of home/family?

B. Community You Grew Up In

Describe the community you grew up in

Describe your neighborhood

Where did you shop? How far away were the stores and how did you get there?

What’s the largest town you remember visiting when you were young? Can you describe your impressions of it?

C. Early Schooling

Where did you go to elementary school?

What was school like for you? What did you like about it? What was hard for you?

Who were your favorite teachers? Why?

D. Friends and Interests

What did you do in your spare time?

Who were your best friends and what did you do when you got together? Do you still keep in touch with any of them?

Did you have any hobbies or special interests?

What did you want to be when you grew up?

#PersonalHistoryQuestionnaire #RClintPeters #TheAuthorsClub