A key lesson of family history research is the importance of incorporating journals, histories and family stories into our genealogy. When I took the genealogy class in my church our teachers, Quintin and Sue Phillips, illustrated this very well. The visual aid they used for an object lesson made perfect sense to me. Sue showed a list of the basic vital stats for one of her ancestors -Pattie Bartlett Sessions - date and place of birth, marriage and death. She then read some stories from a book based on the journals of that woman, a pioneer midwife with a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To further reinforce the point, Quintin put out a plate of sliced homemade bread next to the book, representing something rich in taste and smell, fully nourishing. Next to the sheet of paper with the raw data he put a bowl of flour. It was a worthy beginning, but only the most basic ingredient of what it meant to "know" this person.
I could not agree more.
Over the years I have done a fair amount of gathering of information on the Baldwin and Burlington families - ancestors to my children through my ex-husband's lines. I have been blessed with having found several wonderful aunts and uncles in that family who have been willing to continue to correspond with me and share information long after my short, chaotic first marriage was over.
One of those people is Roy Burlington of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. On several occasions Roy has generously shared copies of photographs and key information I would never have been able to find from any other source. However, until recently I've been so focused on getting to know the long dead who-begat-who of these families that I haven't really gotten to know much about the living, breathing man who was sending the information.
I wrote to Roy recently to tell him I would like to know more about HIM if he was willing to share some of his own stories. In response he sent me a copy of the book "Diamonds on the Water" that he wrote in 2007. This book is a wonderful collections of stories, primarily of various fishing adventures set in upper Michigan, Alaska and Florida. Woven between the tales of pulling in big catches are wonderful gems which give a peek at Roy's experiences and values and a few snapshots of various family members.
One such gem is this one, from page 13 where he is writing about his father, Ken Burlington: "I knew I was about to enter manhood at 10 years of age when he let me row the boat and bait m own hook. Just me and my Dad. He belonged to a generation of quiet fathers who seldom told their sons they loved them. They simply took them fishing." I'm only part way through the book so far, but I can tell already that it is going to be a treasure.
I am incredibly grateful to Roy for his sharing this whimsical, personal tale of life on the water, introducing me to friends and family members in a rich and meaningful way through stories.
Tracking down names and dates of family history is important. But capturing the stories is what makes it come alive. Quintin Phillips challenged the members of his family to each capture one family memory in 100 words or less. I think that is a great exercise. Not everyone is a natural writer. Some might be more comfortable simply talking into a tape recorder. We also talked about other means for keeping records - blogs, emails, notes on 3 x 5 cards, along with other possibilities. However it works for you, I would encourage you to record those stories of experiences that have been special to you - whether it be fish tales, testimony or about places you have visited.
One of the stories my father-in-law, Fred Bennett, told that was of interest to me was of how he loaded hay using a "Johnson Fork". I did not grow up on a farm and had no idea what that was. Having him take the time to specifically describe what to him was a mundane, utilitarian tool helped me understand more.
I've also been fascinated by tales of what sort of medical or dental care were available to my grandparents or earlier ancestors. That makes me wonder what my great grandchildren might think of the story of my husband's recent hip replacement surgery - something I would just as soon forget, but might we well served to write down.
Things like how we travel, the price of groceries, how we like to cook or how we spend our time may seem pretty dull and boring today. However the world changes so very fast that even our most modern conveniences and what they mean to us may be an interesting detail to those reading it two or three generations from now.
Family history has a lot to do with doing research about long dead ancestors. However, it also can have plenty to do with recording our own lives in the here and now.
What stories do you want to record for your posterity?
