Interview suggestions?

[Bernie Doran]

I'm still new to genealogy. My family is having a reunion in a couple of weeks. I developed a one page, generic questionnaire that I hope to convince everyone to fill out. I'm asking for:

Names/maiden names
Address/phone/email
Date & place of birth
Childhood residence(s)
High School graduated from & info on further education
Married folks; date & place
Occupation
Religion affiliation
and the catch all...
"Other points of interest such as military service, hobbies, accomplishments, etc. (use back of sheet)".

Am I missing anything that would help me really get rolling on the family tree?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Bernie Doran

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Interview suggestions?

I developed a one page, generic questionnaire that I hope to convince everyone to fill out...Am I missing anything that would help me really get rolling on the family tree?

You've left off all the "connecting" data, such as:

Names of parents
Names of grandparents
Names of spouses, former and present
Names of children
Names of grandchildren

Of course, the more you ask, the less likely people are to answer. You may do better by interviewing them individually as *you* fill out the questionnaire for them.

[donworth]

Re: Interview suggestions?

This may be along a different line than you wanted, but my suggestion would be to find the oldest people there and ask them what they remember about their grandparents. Boy am I glad I did that when I first started in Genealogy in 1976 and interviewed my 3 surviving grandparents! I have such wonderful stories now about my Great Great Grandparents!

[Bernie Doran]

Re: Interview suggestions?

Thank you both. These are very helpful suggestions. I am really enjoying learning how to think like a family genealogist.

Bernie

[kmgenealogy]

Re: Interview suggestions?

If you decide to go the interview route, you may wish to record each interview so you don't have to scribble everything down. Also makes for a more relaxed interview as you can keep your eyes on the person and concentrate on your questions (be sure to have a list to choose from-try googling "genealogy interview questions" to see what you get). If you have a smartphone, you can probably use it to record. If you would rather, you can get a digital recorder for under $100 (maybe less, I haven't looked lately) at Best Buy. Either usually are powerful enough so that you can lay it on a table between the two of you. Practice on someone at home first.

Hope this helps.

Where are you in Portland? I'm in Hillsboro.

[Bernie Doran]

Re: Interview suggestions?

Dennis - As I was working your suggestions into my hopefully one page questionnaire (I don't want to give people too much work) I realized I just need to include a pedigree chart for each of the in-laws. Great suggestion.

Kaye - I will have to see if I can persuade 'the boss/CFO/wife' that I should buy a digital recorder. I like that. I haven't thought about it until just now... Reunion lets you include audio doesn't it? I'm in NE Portland, east of the Hollywood District.

[Allsop]

Re: Interview suggestions?

Dennis -

Kaye - I will have to see if I can persuade 'the boss/CFO/wife' that I should buy a digital recorder. I like that. I haven't thought about it until just now... Reunion lets you include audio doesn't it? I'm in NE Portland, east of the Hollywood District.

Or even an iPad 2!!!

[Bernie Doran]

Re: Interview suggestions?

Or even an iPad 2!!!

Now you're TALKING !!!

[kmgenealogy]

Re: Interview suggestions?

...<snip> Reunion lets you include audio doesn't it? <snip>

Not sure about the audio in Reunion. However, you can keep it in a folder in iTunes and possibly in a regular folder on the computer. You can then make a transcription (word for word) or abstract (most important info) on Pages, make a PDF and include it in Reunion, possibly as a source.

Others may be able to help here.