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Color Your Genealogy
from:By Janet Nugent
If you're doing your family's genealogy, you're probably
familiar with the charts and the family trees, fan charts,
lineage charts, etc., with all the names and dates of your
ancestors. Your charts may go back 5, 10 or 15 generations, with
all the documented dates of birth, marriage, death. But how much
do you really know about those people? Try to add a little
"color" to your ancestors, by giving a fuller picture of each
person. Do you have any photos of them, any of their belongings,
or stories about them? Granted, the longer they have been gone,
the less chance you have of finding any of their things.
However, you can try to document as many of the more recent ones
as possible.
Photographs are good to show us what they looked like. If you're
lucky enough to find photos of someone from childhood through
adulthood, you will have a pretty good idea of what they looked
like, as well as possibly what other members of the family
looked like. You may get an inkling of their income level from
the clothes they wore or other items in the picture. Remember,
though, that they very well could be dressed in their best
clothes, whether for the photo, or because of the occasion. If
the photo was taken by a professional photographer, any other
items in the photo may very well be the photographer's props.
Diaries, journals and letters can give a good insight into what
was important to the person writing them. They may also speak of
other family members and relatives, as well as friends. This may
help you to better piece the family together, or even locate
them in census records, since oftentimes family members and
neighbors would move to a new area together or join family and
friends who migrated earlier.
Books that a person owned (or even wrote) may tell you what his
interests were, or how well-educated he was, be it formal
education or not. Any stories or poems they wrote would reflect
their interests and feelings. Cook books may have been
hand-written, in which case they might have been that cook's
favorites, or family favorites written for a new bride. Or
printed cookbooks with notes written in, or pages marked, might
also be an indication of well-used recipes.
Tools might tell you more about a person's occupation, or merely
a hobby. You may have to do some detective work to find out what
unusual-looking tools were and how they were used.
Textiles and needlework may reflect the interests of the women
in the family. There are many different types of needlework that
are used by someone at any time. However, there are some forms
that were more prominent during a particular time period.
Quilts, comforters, embroidered sheets and pillowcases, tatted
collars, needlework samplers, Berlin work, lace making, tambour
work, trapunto, all had their periods of popularity. Identifying
what type of work it was may help narrow down the time period in
which it was made, which, in turn, may narrow down the women who
might have made it.
Sometimes there are items passed down through the family. They
may be furniture pieces, clocks, a special vase, china sets,
family Bible, military ribbons, quilts, wedding or christening
gown, jewelry, or any number of things. It's important that the
stories that come with these items are recorded and preserved.
Don't forget to document the stories. Write down the ones you
recall hearing years ago. (Double-check for accuracy with other
family members.) You might even do some oral history, sitting
down with older family members and recording their memories of
family, growing up, school, church, jobs, etc. Wouldn't it be
interesting to find out that that serious-looking man in the
photo was your great-grandfather, and that he actually had a
sense of humor and loved jokes? Oral history is best collected
with the use of tape recorders. These tapes should then be
transcribed into a format easy to store and share with other
relatives.
Lastly, don't forget the living! Family trees start with a
living person and work backwards. When a future family member
starts their tree, you may not be around anymore to answer
questions, so be sure to include photos, stories, and documents
about yourself and other living relatives. Make your family tree
truly a living and long-lasting tree.
By paying attention to these types of sources as you do your
genealogy, you can easily turn some of your "Black & White"
ancestors into "Full Color" people.
About the author:
Janet Nugent has a degreein History and MA in Historical
Administration. She worked about 14 years in living history and
local history museums, and is involved in researching and
preserving her family's history.
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