Writing up family history

[Spargone]

I had a DNA test, mostly to persuade my eldest female relative on my father's side to do the same. That follows the 'write it down' principle as once she is gone that marker is lost for ever.

The two tests, submitted from different places at different times, showed the right degree of linkage which is some proof that it works. So far every other 'match' looks too distant to be worth following up. That is not helped by people using 'silly' user names, like 'dadstest', a 'john smith' would be more useful if correct.

One person has contacted me on behalf of an elderly German lady who believes her father was a British serviceman posted to Germany immediately after WW2. His surname dosn't appear anywhere on my tree but then it only takes a couple of steps down female lines to 'lose' relatives.

As an aside, either genealogy will become simple and instant with DNA or impossible as eggs/sperm are banked, mixed, implanted and finally the product signed over to multiple mothers/fathers that are neither. So much simpler when it was only the 'milkman' mixing things up!

 

[mikejee]

Spargone
It depends on what you mean by genealogy. Do you mean the inheritance and tradition of a family group or the biochemical inheritance of genes. For some purposes, usually medical, biochemical inheritance is important, in case there is some inheritantvproblem in the gene line. But surely, from the point of view of the people concerned, the family ties of who brought them up , mentored, supported and encouraged them as a family is more important. As I understand it, the regal families understood this and accepted "deviations" for the sake of the family. Where they did not, the inbred nature of their system produced problems such as the haemophilia inherent in Queen Victoria's family

 

[Spargone]

Spargone
It depends on what you mean by genealogy. Do you mean the inheritance and tradition of a family group or the biochemical inheritance of genes. For some purposes, usually medical, biochemical inheritance is important, in case there is some inheritantvproblem in the gene line. But surely, from the point of view of the people concerned, the family ties of who brought them up , mentored, supported and encouraged them as a family is more important. As I understand it, the regal families understood this and accepted "deviations" for the sake of the family. Where they did not, the inbred nature of their system produced problems such as the haemophilia inherent in Queen Victoria's family

OED: A line of descent traced continuously from an ancestor. The word is recorded from Middle English and comes via Old French and late Latin from Greek genealogia, from genea ‘race, generation’.

No adoptions, no first, second or third parents.

 

[ChrisM]

Alison, I promised to let you have a bit more detail about the two sets of Family Histories which I am lucky enough to possess.

I won't go into the detail of the two branches of my extended family which these Histories cover. I have summarised them at length previously, on this Forum thread:

When to call a halt and then what?

I am not a genealogist but note the enthusiasm and dedication with which many members of this Forum pursue their interest in their family histories. One question does intrigue me: how do you know when to stop and then, do you follow it through by doing the tedious bit of pulling it all together...

birminghamhistory.co.uk

(see post #1). But they both have origins in 19th-century Birmingham, loosely linked with each other at that time and then one branch of them emigrated to Australia in the 1870s. The other is my own close family, most of whom moved away from the City between the 1960s and the 1980s. The latter was chronicled by my late brother, Graham Myers, up to 1997 before the days of any real computer-based research, it comprises five A5 sized booklets. The Australian work was carried out by my Australian cousin Richard Myers and his wife Joan about 10/15 years later and consists of two A4 books published in 2007 and 2012. Here are the books.





1. Graham Myers's work
The following images show the front cover of just one of them – my mother's line, the Toveys, which starts very early in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire and continues from the 1860s in Birmingham. Also there is a summary of the titles of all five books, all of them following a similar format. And finally there is a contents list which gives a bit of an idea as to how each booklet was organised. Within the books are detailed family trees and much narrative about the individuals contained with them and their history. (Technology at the time did not readily permit illustrations for home-produced work such as this; but we are fortunate in having, separately, a good collection of family images throughout the 20th century and a few from earlier)




2. Richard and Joan Myers's work.
Again just one front cover and a contents list. A not dissimilar format from the earlier work but considerably more glossy and fully illustrated in colour throughout. The benefit of technology having moved on!




I'm tempted to post more detail – some of the pages of the Australian work are stunning and of considerable interest to anyone interested in Birmingham history – but that's not the point here. I hope that this bit of guidance will help you in deciding just how to make a start on the onerous task of "getting it all written down" I am sure that two of the people concerned, my brother Graham and my cousin's wife, Joan Myers (once a member here) - neither of whom, to my great regret, is any longer with us - would be happy to know that their own work was helpful to other family historians.

Chris

 

[Spargone]

Be a tell-tale, or why it's time to write your own history, a writer wishing he knew more about his parents and beyond.

Hosted on 'The Conservative Women' but the article is apolitical and makes some good points.