Posts Tagged ‘family history research’
Today I have an another activity for you. Let’s break down your family. Write a story about your mom, dad, aunt, uncle, grandma and grandpa that includes the following information:
Their name
Date of birth
Place of birth
How big they were at birth – both in length and weight?
What color are their eyes and hair?
Where did they live when they were born? Who lived with them?
What is your father’s full name? What is his date of birth?
What is your mother’s full name? What is her date of birth?
Name all your aunts and uncles and write down their dates of birth.
Did your family attend church? Which one? Did they have any special roles in the church?
Where did your parents or grandparents go to school? Who were their teachers? What were their favorite subjects?
Have they achieved anything? Won a contest? Received an award for something?
What hobbies do they have?
Did they play any sports?
Who were their best friends? What did they like to do together? Where did they hang out?
Make a timeline of important events in their lives.
Add important historical events to that timeline.
Ask them how much things were when they were growing up.
Save your responses in your notebook. Check back next week for a guide to write about your parents and grandparents.
Kids! I was on the PBS website this morning and found a great resource for you when you start collecting genealogical information. It is the Research Questions file!
This is a PDF file on which you list your ancestor’s name at the top with the vital information. Then there is a checklist of records for you to search and places to write questions about those records and where to obtain the information.
Download the file and use it when you conduct your interviews or start looking for documents. It is a fantastic resource!
We talked about Hidden Sources and one of those was a diary. Do you have a diary? If not, why not?
Your activity today is to get a notebook or nice journal and pen or pencil and start a diary. Make sure you put your name inside the cover and date each entry you write. This is not something you need to share with the world. Just something for you to write in and go back to and read as you grow up.
Need some ideas about what to write?
- Things you did today
- Your best friends
- Things you are good at
- Your goals
- Where you want to go on vacation
- What your house looks like
- Talk about your parents and siblings
- Special memories of time spent with grandparents
- Your favorite subjects in school
- Books you love
- Your dreams
Draw in your diary. Cut out pictures and tape or glue them in. I’m an adult and one of my diaries has lists of places I want to visit with my kids. I put pictures of those places in my book on the page where I list the destination. I also have pictures of things I love, like Starbucks Iced Mochas, stacks of books and the beach. To some people, these may seem like silly things, but they paint a picture of who I am.
What will you put in your diary?
Let’s talk more about those hidden sources around your house.
Diaries and Journals
Ask your parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, if they kept a diary or journal. I still have all of mine from grade school through high school. I was not good about writing in them every day but they provide a (somewhat funny) review of my life. Funny reading them as an adult. The things I felt were so major as a kid, like thinking I would just disappear if “that” boy didn’t fall head over heels in love with me, do not compare to the things I worry about as an adult. But that’s what happens when we grow up.
My first diaries were filled with tidbits about my life and lists of all those cute boys. By high school they included entries about band and different musical contests in which I participated. There are entries about vacations and friends, fights with my parents and the usual growing pains. When you are older and re-read a diary from your school days, the entries may take you back to a wonderful time and place when you fell in love for the first time or got your driver’s license or accomplished that one big goal you had in high school. Nice memories.
Jewelry
Ask your mom and dad about special jewelry they have. Where did they get it? Why is it special to them? What is the story behind the piece?
I found several pieces of my old jewelry in a box when I was sorting and organizing my treasures recently. The picture shows a Holly Hobbie pin, necklace and what was a pin that we put a hole in to put it on a necklace. There is my little wobbly ears bunny necklace, a ring with flowers, a mouse pin (I don’t really remember wearing this) and a pain with my baby picture in it. My mom used to wear that pin.
The butterfly pin I believe was my great-grandma Brouk’s. I need to confirm this and label the photo correctly though.
Old books
1940 edition of the U.S. Navy's Bluejackets Manual
My grandfather, Joseph Holik, joined the U.S. Naval Armed Guard during World War II. This Bluejacket’s Manual dated 1940 is an item I have of his from the War. It has his name, Company, dates of service and where he trained, written inside.
The book cover is coming apart – the inside layer of the cover has detached somewhat and the book was definitely used. Joseph wrote HOLIK J in pencil on the outside pages of the book. When the book is closed you can see his name.
This book doesn’t contain any other genealogical information about Joseph, but tells me what he had to learn when he entered the Navy in 1943.