Photographs Prompt the Memory and Develop the Story

As I write life stories, I find that one really good way to encourage thought is to use a photo album with an older person. People enjoy looking through old albums anyway especially women and at each photo there is a chance to remember the event and say something about it .

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words but , for someone who is delving into family history, it is often meaningless without the words of another family member who remembers the time and can explain the photo. Even with wedding pictures that are only black and white, it is good to hear a description of dresses and know why a particular colour (which is meaningful to the speaker) was chosen. We learn through conversations about old photos where the event took place, who was there, why certain things happened and how it all ended.

I was looking at one photo with a gentleman over 90 when he was standing by the wing of an airplane; through questions, I discovered that he was in Italy where a German plane had been brought down on a very hot day after much resistance. That picture became a real souvenir and was put into a local paper report before he came home after WWII.

My own mother had a picture of our house which showed her business in the front and shop windows. I always wondered why she did not have herself taken on the day my father and her cousins stood at the shop door. When I asked, I found out she was seven months pregnant with me and did not want to be photographed although she served others in her new shop. This told me more about my mother’s character and what was acceptable in 1935.

One old photo a friend had of a familygroup prompted him to discover more; it led to a fascinating pioneer story of a journey from Owen Sound to North Dakota and eventually into Manitoba. He had always wondered why his grandfather went west and how he made it. We discovered old photos on the web of early trains going west and added those to his story as well as the river boat used from St Cloud Minnesota to North Dakota, travelling the Mississippi in about 1882.

Mentioning the internet reminds me of the wealth of information often backed by old photographs. There are pictures of towns back in 1900 or later, there are old maps that explain previous boundaries and people dressed in period clothes that help us date the times our relatives lived. They all lead to fascinating conversations and bring up a flood of memories for older relatives.

I even found a photograph of my uncle in a football club in Wales when I could not even imagine he played! I was able to use that in my own family stories.  I am so glad to have discovered photographs that go back to 1870 as they have given me a glimpse into my family’s past.

Use photographs to talk and include them in any stories you write. It is well worth it.

The Value of Letters and emails

Before throwing away Christmas cards, I re-read notes and especially enclosed Christmas letters and it got me thinking. Each year those of us who write more at Christmas include quite a bit about our family life and special events. They would be valuable to keep and use when writing our own life stories. One gentleman even writes a new poem each year; it says so much about his faith, his assessment of happenings during the year and his attitude to them.

As we get older we forget details. I know that the letters I write reveal certain highlights in detail- for example a family wedding or a child’s birth and how we responded. This year my cousin wrote in detail about a new home in Provence and why they’d moved there. Letters like that are invaluable so don’t lose them. Keep them in your computer file or just file a copy of interesting letters in printed form if you prefer.  You will be glad you did when you come to write.

These days the same can be said of emails. Some may be so detailed that you can tell how you felt when you wrote them. Don’t delete, keep and place them in that special “Memoir” file.

Did you ask questions early enough?

Today I was talking to an older lady who realized she should have asked her parents more questions about their lives and relations. I could have said the same thing as I never asked my mother about her early life. She just told me snippets that grabbed my interest.

So tonight, I’m suggesting to you– ask your parents or older relatives while they are still around. I found out so much later from censuses and wish I’d known to ask about the people shown there. For instance, I thought my father was one of two children and then I discovered that his father had first been married to another woman who had given him four children and died in childbirth in 1884. It took him 6 years to find another wife, my grandmother, to care for his young children.

Since then I have found other child-birth deaths and new marriages in our family’s past. I often wonder what happened to those other four siblings my father had.It still frustrates me. As a result of not asking, researching the family took longer and there were frustrating times.

Now I am helping an older lady who thought her family had come to Canada after 1881. A check on the 1901 census in Alberta proved that one great-uncle was born in Ontario in 1865  so we have to re-think when the family came here.

We are fortunate these days to have many resources on the internet that help us be more accurate when we are writing a family history. I often use Cindy’s List which can point anyone to many different genealogical sites. So many people offer help when you find the area you need. But best of all, try to get the facts from family first.

Good hunting! Get together now and ask lots of relevant questions while you can.