Thursday, January 3, 2013

But I Don't Know Who They Are

I have a private family group on Facebook for my siblings and nieces and nephews. We use this group to post family related information and photos that the rest of the world doesn't need to know about. I, of course, use the group to post family history information as well.

I recently posted two pedigree charts, one for my father and one for my mother. The comments contained the obligatory "cool", "thanks", "good work" etc. However, one of my nieces commented "but I don't know who they are." My first thought was that I had never sent her a pedigree chart, that I had somehow missed her. Then I realized that was not what her comment meant. She didn't "know" those people past a name and a date on a page.

I enjoy the research portion of genealogy more than the story writing and obviously this shows as my niece saw only the names and not the people. I'm going to be honest with myself though (and you), I will not be busting out a family history book anytime soon...if ever. Hopefully, there is a budding writer in my family that will want to tackle that project.

I realized I need to find a better way of telling our ancestors stories so they will be more interesting and meaningful to others. I can use photographs, heirloom items, yearbooks, and newspaper clippings to illustrate the stories. I have all of those items (boy do I have all those items!) but I haven't shared those often as I didn't think they provided any context without the charts. I was building the framework and waiting to fill it in after everyone understood the base. I've been doing this backwards, thinking the charts will lead to an interest in our family history. I should have been using the visual and tangible items to lead back to the charts.


While going through my family photos and heirloom items I realized two things, one I have no idea what I really do have and two some of these items need to be restored and preserved properly. Lucky for me, I have a friend that knows a little something about restoring damaged photos. Joe, from Photofixerjoe.com restored the photograph you see above. Isn't it beautiful? This is Ora Gaines Allen Cummings and her son William Cummings. The photo was taken in 1921 in Winchester Kentucky.

After posting the before and after photos of Ora and Billy in my family group on Facebook, the comments were much more engaging and interesting. Does anyone else see a Ferris Wheel in this photo? Me neither, but one of my sisters thinks that's what the tree behind Ora looks like. :)

Photos and heirlooms will become my focus in 2013. I'm looking forward to sharing all that I have with my family and blog readers. Be sure to visit Joe's website to see more restoration projects as well as his Facebook page.

18 comments:

  1. Jenna, perhaps that's how your niece will gain an interest in her family history: finding out the answers to her own questions, then sharing with the rest of the family. I don't know if "apprenticeship" would work in genealogy, but it's worth a try ;) Who knows? Maybe she will become your family's story-teller.

    That is an adorable picture. So glad you were able to find someone skilled in the restoration process.

    Restoration and preservation are going to figure prominently in my New Year, too. I don't have nearly as many heirlooms and keepsakes as you do, but I still want to do it right, so these things can be passed down to the next generation.

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    1. Jacqi, I keep thinking some of my enthusiasm will rub off on somebody!! :) Story teller or not, any participation is welcome.

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  2. I'm the same way Jenna. I'm not a very good storyteller. I wish I was, it would make my blog more interesting! I'm much more fact-oriented. It doesn't help that for most of my people, all I have are the facts. But I've realized that sometimes the facts can tell stories all by themselves. I just have to learn how to tell them.

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    1. Very true Danielle. For those that I don't have photos or other items for I need to use stories about the area or time frame they lived in to generate interest.

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  3. I love this post Jenna! And the photo really is beautiful.

    You are lucky to have so many photos and heirlooms. Not everyone has these kinds of items to compliment their genealogy facts.

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    1. Thanks Jana. I have many photos of Ora, I think my grandfather really loved his sister, it's his photo album that the picture is from.

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  4. I absolutely love the expression on Ora's face in the above photo. She is obviously taking such pleasure in her son William and the game they are playing. She is pretty and looks like a person who is kind and funny.

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    1. She is pretty, isn't she? I have another restoration that you can see her from the front. I will get that posted soon as well. Thanks Mariann.

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  5. Got to snag those kids in the next generations with a hook... something odd or unusual or interesting, weird, or yuck/awful! A hook - because they may not be as excited as us with our digging into the mysterious world of genealogy. My kids now all think Zerubbabel Jerome is in fact the most interesting name in our tree, and they understand the term 'daughter'd out' (my son has 3 girls! and told me he'd daughter'd out)! They find it cool that someone crossed the ocean in 5 weeks with 6 children under 10, then had 7 more kids. Etc. I wonder out loud to them about something, anything, to help them see that these people are actually PART of their life too. Love your goals, and do keep sharing - I always learn something.

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    1. I appreciate your comment Celia. We never know what's going to get a family member's attention, so try, try and try again!!

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  6. Beautiful picture! As Jana said, you are lucky to have photos and heirlooms.

    I have not been very good with the story telling aspect, although I am intrigued by it and know that it is the way to interest other family members. That's really why I started my blog this last August as I thought maybe I could tell their stories in snippets rather than undertaking a much bigger project for now.

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    1. I'm with you Michelle, "snippets" are the way for me.

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  7. Jenna - I love it! The stories and images are definitely what engage and connect my non-genie family. I wish I had more time for it. Maybe you've inspired me to try to include more time for my own this year so that I can engage them. :) I love your idea about a family group!

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    1. The family group has been a hit, I don't know why I waited so long to set it up. Thanks for stopping by Stephanie!

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  8. Like you, I enjoy collecting names and dates and creating multi-generational charts. It is dry stuff. But I think I like it because I grew up hearing the stories about some of these people. Now I have a house full of dishes, furniture, photos, and STUFF dating back several generations. I've become worried about what will happen to all of it in the hands of my daughters who don't know the stories that make these worn out items precious to me. When I started my blog over a year ago, I didn't intend to become a story teller, but that's what's happening. Even brief paragraphs are the story I know. I never wanted to write a book either because I didn't have a complete story, but I think I could compile snippets and vignettes to provide my daughters SOMETHING of a family story.

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  9. Late last year I started to dip my toe in the blogging waters. I'm not much of a story-teller myself. But I am trying to learn. I've been frustrated for many years by my family's lack of intersted in my genealogical work. Some folks will never be interested. But some folks just don't know they are interesting until I make it interesting!

    This year is about database/citation clean up as I continue preparing my portfolio for BCG submission. It is equally about filling in the context and stories of the people in my database. And, hopefully, hooking a few cousins along the way.

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  10. Great posting! I admit that I lean towards the "facts" of genealogy research more than the story telling and yet that is what is sometimes needed to reach some relatives that just don't get why we do what we do!

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  11. Almost everyone loves to see a photo and I think that's the way to engage the relatives who think they're not interested in family history. Show them a photo like the one above, then add names, a date, and a story, if you have one. I think it's hard to balance the time to do both the research and to write an engaging story. It sounds like you've made a good beginning. The photo above is fabulous and your friend Joe did a great job getting rid of those blue names and brightening it up. Here's to lots of stories and lots of family interest!

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