Family reaction

[Nic Maennling]

Messages posted to ReunionTalk are mostly about technology which is to be expected. I wonder how many of you out there have slaved away for years collecting family information, finally publishing it in one form or other only to be faced with a deafening silence from those to whom it was sent ?

Starting in about 1990 when I started traveling a lot for work I collected as many anecdotes and

[donworth]

Re: Family reaction

We have had a pretty good reaction to the books we've done - but, I suspect, the family likes the photographs we have collected more than the actual genealogy. (The latter is just the frame work to hang the former on.) And they like the stories we had collected 35 years ago when we interviewed all the elders in the family and recorded their responses. It's hard for us who are bitten by the genealogy bug to understand that "normal people" aren't as excited about what we do as we are. To most of them it's a casual interest - something to talk about at a cocktail party. :-)

That said, the real audience for me of all my hard work is the family genealogist in the future. I can still remember when I and my wife started in 1976 and how excited we were each time we found a cache of information or photos about a portion of our family. The people who collected their genealogies from the 1930s and 1940s that I discovered in the 1970s were rock stars to me! I'm hoping some "Don Worth" in the future will someday come upon what I have done and be similarly excited and show it off to their family the way I did.

Don

[Barbara Good]

Re: Family reaction

Messages posted to ReunionTalk are mostly about technology which is to be expected. I wonder how many of you out there have slaved away for years collecting family information, finally publishing it in one form or other only to be faced with a deafening silence from those to whom it was sent ?

I printed separate family reports for about 8 of my family members and got mixed responses. One of my cousins was so fascinated with it, she kept it beside her bed and would read some of it each night. My 12 year old grandson was delighted to be able to "slap" his down on his teacher's desk when she asked the students to submit as many generations of their family as they knew. My brother and my children were all grateful to have so much information about their ancestors. Some of my cousins did not make any comments about it but not everyone is interested in what came before. I think all my family are glad that I am the one doing the genealogy!!

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Family reaction

Nic,

So sad, but true. I believe we can only keep trying. One way is to make our printouts as interesting and possible and as brief as possible. I have found that folks will pay a bit more attention if we send them smaller "bits and pieces" often and continually remind them that you have more, MUCH more, if they are interested. I have also sent some documentation on major discoveries, (scandals and the like) more frequently, however I find that the only way to get it read is to print it in an "attractive" format, with a nice cover, prompting them to want to save it with other family papers. Having said that, I do send a "Web Project," updated every six months or so on DVD. In addition I send an edited version (no living people) to various repositories around the country that I believe will hold on to it. Getting the information out there is the best I can do!

Finding someone to carry on this project is a bit more difficult. With no offspring I am working on nieces and nephews to carry on for me. So far, no luck, but as they grow older I hope the interest will grow along with them.

Frank

[pforbes]

Re: Family reaction

I, too, am our Family

[dante]

Re: Family reaction

Nic,

Thanks for bringing this topic up- I've had the same concern with reaction that falls short of my expectations.

That said, one thing I've found that helps is that I avoid the usual 'He begat so and so' genealogy and I've been trying to find the interesting 'hook' for my intended audience, mainly my family.

I've found good response and support from family with short stories, usually 3 to 6 pages, and of course with pictures. I've found that when I put a little more effort into formatting and email out a group pdf that I've gotten good discussion that often helps me correct and sometimes forms a nidus for another story. I also send out my short stories to other genealogists who are interested in the same hometown, and sometimes I get more encouragement from them as they already have the genealogy bug. Another great thing with this is they also alert me when they see my family names in things they are researching.

I have to make a succession plan- difficult to get the kids really interested. And I have to start sending my stories/materials out to different libraries and genealogical societies. And I hold out the same hope that Don that some day some future genealogist will come upon my work, think of me as a rock star, and have my same reaction to finding and sharing the work with their family.

Dante

[donworth]

Re: Family reaction

W/re to succession plans, many genealogists I have met have jealously guarded their genealogy because they are afraid someone will "steal" it and they will not get the credit for their work (or they are afraid that someone else will not be as disciplined about their approach to the data). Many of them take their precious genealogies to their grave because they never find a successor in their circle of family who wants to take over and meets their standards.

I take the opposite approach. I give my genealogy, photos, stories away to anyone who wants them and have submitted my genealogy to Ancestry as a public tree, LDS (in the form of a submitted GED with sourcing), a printed book, copies of which are in local genealogical societies and libraries as well as with my cousins all over the world, and a public web site. And I send backups of all my data and image files to cousins on thumb drives and data DVDs - whether they asked for them or not (even if they go in a closet, someone in that branch of the family might stumble upon them someday).

I figure if I spread my data out as far and wide as I can, it's more likely to survive me and find it's way to the next generation of genealogists - however distantly related they may be to me. And, if it's replicated enough with my name associated with it, I am confident that it will be obvious where it originated. I had no trouble figuring out who the original researcher was for data I have come across that was collected by genealogists who died before I was born.

They say - You can never get something back once you put it out on the Internet - well, I say, use that to your advantage!

Don

[Frank Zwolinski]

Re: Family reaction

Don,

Here, here!! I agree.
I would like to ask how redacted a copy you put out there? What personal data do you delete? Are living folks included?

You get the drift.........

GREAT topic!!

Frank

[donworth]

Re: Family reaction

I would like to ask how redacted a copy you put out there? What personal data do you delete? Are living folks included?

For my public web site and Ancestry site I remove anyone born after 1940 and then let those two entities privatize the rest with their own privatization rules. Sometimes I have to put "aft 1940 For Privacy" into the birth date/location fields to force data not to be included in the GEDs. I guess I could rely on Ancestry to redact living people entirely, but I don't really trust them with that data. :-)

Back in the 90s I had submitted my GED to various places without redacting anything - but in those days nobody had heard of identity theft. So some of my unredacted data may be floating around in some obscure corners of the Internet. Too late now!

For my books, I have been including names but not dates (events) for living people. This is because the books get into the hands of family who want to see their name in print. Also, I'm guessing the books might last longer than the web sites (although maybe not!) so I want to be sure that anyone who finds the book will have the same experience I did when I found my grandfather's name in a book on the Whitneys that was published around 1900. I have short bios for myself and immediate family that family members have all approved. One of my sisters-in-law didn't want her name included anywhere - so she and her husband are "Living".

Don

[Bob White]

Re: Family reaction

......... without redacting anything - but in those days nobody had heard of identity theft. So some of my unredacted data may be floating around...........

Sir Don.... Not exactly. I worked for California's DMV most of my life. During the late 1970's to mid-1980's, I supervised the headquarters unit that processed the evidence for driver license fraud cases. Believe me when I say that the source material for identity theft was the same as now BUT it is now a lot easier to obtain THUS a much larger quantity of cases and much more publicity than back then.

Regarding "my data".. I'm with you. I don't think of it as belonging to me. It's a set of data that I've assembled from lots of sources and I am happy to share with anyone who asks. I have a 30-something cousin who is really interested and doing research but is also busy with two teenagers. A few years up the road, I am hoping to pass the torch to her for my side. Still working on the wife's side. My own offspring are in the that's neat category.

One thing I did was to set up a private Facebook page for my mother's extensive family. My unstated goal was to provided a way of "gluing" the younger generations together socially. It seems to be working. It has about 50 members and it is nice to watch them share news about vacations, special events, graduations, whatever. Maybe one of them will get bitten by the genealogy bug. One never knows.

[Robin Helmond]

Re: Family reaction

Messages posted to ReunionTalk are mostly about technology which is to be expected. I wonder how many of you out there have slaved away for years collecting family information, finally publishing it in one form or other only to be faced with a deafening silence from those to whom it was sent ?

It seems that most people become interested in their family history after their family elders die. Some people just are never interested. Usually when one sees life's horizon coming closer does one look over the shoulder to see what lay behind. And maybe find a few answers to why some things are so.

My daughter is not interested yet. But maybe one day, and will have the printed copy to look up. So I had better get going and write that printed copy from all the copious files I have stored on my computer (and backed up 3 times). I am rather daunted by that task. Perhaps someone can point me towards some guide book on how to do it.

[kmgenealogy]

Re: Family reaction

... Perhaps someone can point me towards some guide book on how to do it.

Robin, You might want to check out this blog. She has wonderful pointers. I'm still trying to write mine. I did buy the software program Scrivener and am in the process of learning how to use it & set it up for genealogy.

http://www.thearmchairgenealogist.com/p/ultimate-guide-to-writing-family.html

Hope this is helpful.

[donworth]

Re: Family reaction

The Spring 2014 issue of American Ancestors magazine has a nice article by Penny Stratton, "Writing Your Family History: Taking the First Step". The bottom line of the article seems to be - get started even if it's just a short pamphlet on one specific part of your family tree. She talked about a 30 page booklet she made for her step-mother about her immediate ancestry in which she included old photos, maps, photos of ancestral towns, etc. Her step-mom was apparently very pleased with it - and it helped Ms. Stratton make the change in mind-set necessary to start writing her larger family history. She has some good suggestions for software you can use, publishing resources, etc. too.

I did my first family history that way. One-by-one, I built-up pamphlets for each of my great-grandparents' surnames and some of my great-great's surnames as well and put in tons of old photos I got from relatives and illustrations and maps I found on the Internet and elsewhere. The Library of Congress web site is great for maps!

Don

[pforbes]

Re: Family reaction

W/re to succession plans, many genealogists I have met have jealously guarded their genealogy because they are afraid someone will "steal" it and they will not get the credit for their work (or they are afraid that someone else will not be as disciplined about their approach to the data). Many of them take their precious genealogies to their grave because they never find a successor in their circle of family who wants to take over and meets their standards.

I take the opposite approach. I give my genealogy, photos, stories away to anyone who wants them and have submitted my genealogy to Ancestry as a public tree, LDS (in the form of a submitted GED with sourcing), a printed book, copies of which are in local genealogical societies and libraries as well as with my cousins all over the world, and a public web site. And I send backups of all my data and image files to cousins on thumb drives and data DVDs - whether they asked for them or not (even if they go in a closet, someone in that branch of the family might stumble upon them someday).

I figure if I spread my data out as far and wide as I can, it's more likely to survive me and find it's way to the next generation of genealogists - however distantly related they may be to me. And, if it's replicated enough with my name associated with it, I am confident that it will be obvious where it originated. I had no trouble figuring out who the original researcher was for data I have come across that was collected by genealogists who died before I was born.

They say - You can never get something back once you put it out on the Internet - well, I say, use that to your advantage!

Don

I thank you for that idea, Don. I think I'll give it a go. I put my Reunion HTML tree on a CD and then, under a file called Extras, I include my Reunion data base, a Gedcom of it as well as a Printable Tree View of their family. A few have gone out so far.

thanks,

[Robin Helmond]

Re: Family reaction

The Spring 2014 issue of American Ancestors magazine has a nice article by Penny Stratton, "Writing Your Family History: Taking the First Step". The bottom line of the article seems to be - get started even if it's just a short pamphlet on one specific part of your family tree. She talked about a 30 page booklet she made for her step-mother about her immediate ancestry in which she included old photos, maps, photos of ancestral towns, etc. Her step-mom was apparently very pleased with it - and it helped Ms. Stratton make the change in mind-set necessary to start writing her larger family history. She has some good suggestions for software you can use, publishing resources, etc. too.

I did my first family history that way. One-by-one, I built-up pamphlets for each of my great-grandparents' surnames and some of my great-great's surnames as well and put in tons of old photos I got from relatives and illustrations and maps I found on the Internet and elsewhere. The Library of Congress web site is great for maps!

Don

I like the idea of starting off with short pamphlets about specific parts of a tree. That way it won't seem too daunting. I'm afraid I am rather overwhelmed with the idea, but I think you have given me the key. I have also registered with The Armchair Genealogist site. Gotta get started.

Robin Helmond