Family Trees

Genealogy is the study and documentation of family lineage. Luckily for me, there has always been someone in each generation of my father’s family who has taken it upon themselves to keep track, to keep searching backwards, and to attempt to validate what is thought to be true. I remember sitting in a library in Buffalo with my family as a child and searching for specific names and dates in books, copying information down and Xeroxing pages. I loved the smell of the old books.

To some people, that kind of research can seem a daunting task. It’s not easy and there are more brick walls and dead ends than there are proven paths. There are fires that destroyed records and names spelled out incorrectly that might be yours but can’t be proven because of the differences. I hold onto the unproven stories, and document them as such. I’d rather have a family folk tale in place of an empty branch.

Where do you start? Even if you’re lucky to have a list of names and dates and geographical locations, who were they? What did they do? What were their dreams? When my Grandfather was sick, I asked him the questions I could muster about my Great-Grandparents. Still, everything seemed to have the tone of so-now-that-you’re-dying... I often wish I hadn’t waited so long to ask.

You can start now, and write down the names of you, your spouse and/or children. Then write the names of your siblings and parents. Who were your parent’s siblings, and their parents? Go back as far as you can. Ask other family members to fill in names and dates for you. But then, when you have the facts, put some leaves on your tree. Add details and texture to flesh your history out. Here’s a general list of questions that I use for my own files:

FAMILY HISTORY

Feel free to add stories, memories or anecdotes.

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Birth name:

Date of birth:

Place of birth:

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Name of Mother:

Date of birth:

Place of birth:

Siblings:

Name of Father:

Date of birth:

Place of birth:

Siblings:

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Childhood home address:

Childhood vacation spots:

Favorite places as child:

Elementary school name, city:

Junior/Middle school name, city:

Senior/High school name, city:

Date of graduation:

Degrees:

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[repeat as needed]

College, city:

Graduation year:

Degrees:

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Military Service:

Years served:

Deployments:

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[repeat as needed]

Occupation:

Businesses owned:

Other Odd Jobs:

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[repeat as needed]

Marriage date:

Married to:

Marriage place:

Spousal career/job:

Children name(s):

Children date(s) of birth:

Children place(s) of birth:

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Places you lived in your life and what brought you there:

Places travelled to:

List family pets:

Hobbies:

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Criminal Incarceration:

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Date of death:

Place of death:

Place of internment:

What questions would you want to know if you could ask? Personalize them. Make a wish list of questions that might seem impossible to find answers for. It’s possible to find amazing details. The more details you can uncover, the more history of your family migration you can reveal. Write down the stories that have been passed down through the generations. You can fact-check them later if you want to, but at least this way you’ll have a lead to go on. It’s never too late to start documenting what you know for your future generations.