For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in researching my family tree. The people that made me who I am today, and the stories that brought them together.
I know that my paternal great-great-great grandparents came to the United States from Portugal. I know that my maternal grandfather was born in Kentucky and had a monkey for a pet when he was a child. There are several gaps in my family history.
The Texan’s family history – his father’s side of the family is from Texas and his mother’s side comes from Spain, or was it Cuba? I know that his father had nine siblings, his mother had three.
This fall, my mother embarks on her new adventure, and will be taking half of my family’s story with her.
How is The Boy going to learn about his history if I can’t even tell him my portion?
I am working on a series of questions and answers for all of the family members that I can find mailing addresses for! I want to learn more about the stories that make up the people of my tree. How did my grandparents meet? What kind of foods did my great-grandparents serve for dinner?
Look for more information about my Family Tree project in the coming months!
How did you chronicle your family tree? What are some questions you asked family members?
This post is inspired by Sarah McCoy’s The Baker’s Daughter. In a small Texan town, Reba discovers Elsie’s German Bakery and falls in love with more than the pastries. Shes drawn to Elsie’s life in Germany during the last year of WWII. JoinFrom Left to Write on August 29 as we discuss The Baker’s Daughter. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.
I haven’t done much to chronicle my family tree. I better get on it soon. My parents aren’t getting any younger.
When I was doing my own family researched, I took a look at the family Bible of my grandparents, as all the past family events were registered there on the first page. I also looked at the back of the old photos, they contained a lot of names and dates that proved useful.
That’s a great tip. Thanks so much for stopping by to share!
My mom’s family has a really interesting history, however my grandmother has a fantastic imagination and is never serious. It’s been really hard to determine what is fact and what she’s creating in her head.
I have always wanted to do this! It is crazy your grandpa had a pet monkey!!
And the crazier part is he acts like it was perfectly normal to have a pet monkey!
I have attempted finding out more about my family history a few times. My father was adopted and he had no desire to find out anything about his biological parents. This, in itself, makes it very difficult for me to ever learn about the other half of me. I wish you much luck, this is very exciting and can’t wait to read more about your family tree project in the coming months!
This is such an important project. To knwo where we are going we have to know where we have been. I have also picked up this fascination lately about researching my family history. I should have been more proactive about it because recently my great aunt passed awy and she had tons of info from grandmother and aunt’s side. Sadly when they cleaned out her house most of it was tossed by the new owners because my aunt didn’t want any of us to go in and recover things. I am actually related to the late George McClellan who ran against Lincoln in 1864. I have been making much more of an effort lately to track down history. Your idea of writing letters and asking questions is a great idea to obtain the stories!
Unfortunately, I have no advice for you. I have always thought about doing this same thing; however, it has always sounded like so much work that I didn’t know how to organize it all. I will have to follow your adventure and get some pointers along the way 🙂 Good Luck!
The National Archives also has a whole section dedicated to genealogy. You might find some leads in there too! http://www.archives.gov/research/genealogy/
Thanks, Shannon! What a great idea. I never thought to look there.
For a while now my mom and I have been talking about doing a family tree. We need to get on it!
that is wonderful. Someone on my mother’s side did and I know it would take some work for my fathers side good luck and look forward to hearing more about your journey
Yes! This sounds wonderful. A family tree is a splendid way to know the story of your loved ones. My 80-year-old abuelo is working on documenting my Puerto Rican ancestry now and I know that will be a “book” I will treasure and pass down through future generations.
Thank you for being so inspired by THE BAKER’S DAUGHTER to undertake an incredible project like this!
Yours truly,
Sarah
Thank YOU for writing such a lovely book. I enjoyed it, and am very excited to start my project!