Top 10 Ingredients to Building an Heirloom Family History Book




One.

Stories – Your stories can come in a variety of forms. They may be a collection narrative nonfiction short stories about a variety of ancestors. You may choose to write a longer form story taking the reader through an epic adventure based on one ancestor, a couple or a surname line.

Two.

Profiles – You can include ancestor profiles in your book to give your reader a snapshot look into an ancestor. Use profiles when you have too many gaps in your research to tell their whole story. If the ancestor has a great story, they are an interesting person, but they are not directly part of your main narrative consider writing a profile in the sidebar or give them a single on off page. This page is dedicated to a great-uncle who died at Passchendaele in WWI. He wasn’t directly part of the story, but we felt the need to honour him.

Three.

Pedigree Charts – Pedigree charts can serve the readers as a beautiful big picture view of their family history. If you are covering several surname lines in a book, consider including one for each.

Four.

Group Sheets –Each time you start a new family, a group sheet a is a great way to give the reader a big picture view. You can also include some smaller details and facts on the group sheets. By making sure all these details are on the group sheet, you won’t feel required to cram it all into the story. The story can then be a story and not a collections of facts woven together.

Five.

Descendants Chart – The descendant’s chart can help you to include the children of a couple, along with their spouses and children. This conveys a lot of information that may not be part of the direct line you are writing about but still expresses your research and can be an excellent resource for the family.

Six.

Pictures – Choose pictures that enhance your story and show your ancestors in various stages of their life. Unfortunately, not everyone will take the time to read the stories. Sigh.

Seven.

Picture Collage – Consider creating a picture collage, it can demonstrate a life without words.

Eight.

Documents – Choose poignant documents that reveal essential turning points in your ancestor’s life. Passenger lists, land document, will. Don’t feel obligated to include every census and vital record you have uncovered only the ones that were critical to the direction of your family history. If you wish to share the rest of your research and documents, save them to a cd and insert in the back of your book.

 

Nine.

Sources – Don’t forget to include your sources. While footnotes may not be ideal for an Heirloom Family History Book, you can still add a list of sources at the end of your book referencing the page numbers and quote the line of the fact. You can also add your list of sources to the cd if you want to keep a clean look to your heirloom book.

Ten.

Current Family – Don’t forget to include your present family in your book. If they are in it and they can see their connection to the past they are more likely to take up interest and buy your book.

 

 

 

1 thought on “Top 10 Ingredients to Building an Heirloom Family History Book”

  1. Thank You! Thank You! You always give me that extra boost to get me back on track. These tips were made just for me.

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Related Post

Sharing Family History in a Children’s BookSharing Family History in a Children’s Book

It goes without saying all the benefits of reading to your children and grandchildren. The more you read to your children the more you set them up to succeed. They develop language skills, exercise their brains and enhance their concentration through reading. Reading encourages their thirst for knowledge, it teaches them about different topics and promotes imagination and creativity. If that wasn’t enough reading books with children helps them to develop empathy. When a child can put himself into the story, it helps them to build understanding. They identify with the character, and they feel what the child is feeling. Children begin to understand and relate to the emotions expressed in the story.

 

The characters in children’s books are often remembered for a lifetime because they are fundamental moments in a child’s development. Did you know that children who know stories about relatives who came before them show higher levels of emotional well-being, this according to a research report at Emory University.  Family stories provide a sense of identity and help children understand who they are in the world.

 

Now allow their favourite hero to be a great-grandfather or great-great grandmother and your children will grow to appreciate their family story and develop what the professionals call an ‘intergenerational self.” The intergenerational self as interpreted by Emory University is defined as understanding one’s place in a familial history. They determined “the development of an intergenerational self, becomes a significant factor as children approach adolescence.

 

So, it occurred to me that instead of trying to force family history upon our relatives it might be easier to introduce it a little more subtlety when they are young through children’s books.

Having I just finished my first family history children’s book early this year I thought I would share with you some information to help you consider if you have a children’s book lurking in your research.

 

Children’s books are divided into 3 categories:

Pictures Books

0 to 3 years – board books, novelty books

3 to 5 years – picture books, ABC books

5 to 7 years – picture books, reading primers, colour storybooks

 

Middle Grade

8-12 years old

 

Young Adult

12 and up

 

Getting Acquainted with Children’s Books

Before you decide to write a children’s book, I urge you to get acquainted with children’s books, especially if you been away from children’s book for a while.

 

  1. Consult children’s section of the library/bookstore
  2. Notice the books your children/grandchildren or friend’s children are reading and enjoying
  3. Read reviews of children’s books

 

Classic Children’s Themes

 

Next, you want to familiarize yourself with children’s themes. Most children’s book will address one of the topics listed below. Understanding these themes, it will make it easier to help find stories within your research. Now, there certainly are other themes, but these are the major ones and are a great place to start.

 

  • Courage – adventure, overcoming fears, immigration and migration are great examples in a family history.
  • Friendship – sharing and helping each other
  • Loss – loss parent or grandparent – through toy or something they value such as a pet.
  • Growing up – accepting change, learning a lesson from life that allows you to mature.
  • Belonging – stories about belonging to a group, not fitting in, helpful way of promoting tolerance and understanding.
  • Anger – reassurance to children that they are not alone in their feelings.
  • Jealousy – related to the theme of anger, a great example is the arrival of a new baby.
  • Love – affirming love for someone and feeling love in return is the cornerstone of a happy childhood

 

Consider the themes listed about match them with events in your family history research. Think about your own childhood  – list memories from your childhood, including favourite food, sweets, clothes, board games, toys trips, adults, holidays or particular incidents. Consider the journey of a family history artifact.

 

To find further inspiration for writing a children’s book consider reading what others have written.

Examples of Family History Children’s Books

 

Seven Brave Women  by Betsy Hearne, 1997 for age 4-8 years old

This book is about the author’s unique female ancestors, including her grandmother who was a harpist-architectural-historian who passed on many of the stories in the book. The first page says that history books often marks time by the wars that men fought. Then each spread tells about an ancestor in the author’s family who made history by not fighting in wars. We read about a Mennonite woman who immigrated to Philadelphia, a hardworking homemaker, a horse-riding painter, a missionary doctor, a single mother working as a secretary, and a storyteller. The storyteller is the author’s mother. Seven brave women who left their imprints on the past and on her. Beginning with the great-great-great-grandmother who came to America on a wooden sailboat, these women were devout and determined and tireless and beloved.

 

My Mother’s Pearls by Catherine Myler Fruisen, 1995 Preschool-Grade 3

My Mother’s Pearls is geared toward little girls. It taps into their love for jewelry, beautiful dresses, and getting ready with mom. Going back in time through seven generations, the young narrator shares short anecdotes from her grandmothers and great-grandmothers who once wore (or played dress up with) the pearls. Little girl relates the story of her mother’s heirloom pearls, handed down each generation from mother to daughter on her wedding day. Readers glimpse a day in 1968 when the unnamed protagonist’s grandmother wore the pearls; a day in 1938, when her great-grandmother wore them; and so on, all the way back to 1788, when the young girl’s 6th great grandmother first received the necklace as a wedding gift from her husband.

 

Fancy Nancy: My Family History by Jane O’Connor, 2010

Nancy introduces readers to the fancy term “ancestors.” She wishes she had famous ancestors like her classmates. Instead, she learns about her great-grandpa who was plain and hardworking. She exaggerates his life in her school report but has a change of heart when she realizes she has something in common with her great grandpa.

 

Maman’s Special Job, by Lynn Palermo and illustrated by Josiane Vlitos, 2018, age 5-8.

Maman’s Special Job is the true story taken from the family history of genealogist and writer Lynn Palermo. This story tells the account of a rural midwife as told through the eyes of her young son, Bert. Growing up in a French-Canadian family, Bert observes his mother’s job and how it affects his daily life. Ultimately, he learns what her kindness and sacrifice mean to their community.