Simple Family Line Chart?.....

[Lahb]

I am planing on mailing a request to my husbands grandmother (who lives on the other side of the country) for her to provide me with information on her families line. We have spoken casually on past visits about her line but nothing formal and I thought it would be nice to start getting this down on paper. I have looked at dozens of "pedigree" charts and such but feel many of them might confuse her (the layouts) as she's never seen one before, but I do want to make this as easy as possible for her.

Does anyone have a very simple chart they have used for long distance requests like this? Or should I abandon the whole chart route and just ask her to write things as she likes. I've never done long distance information gathering quite like this Her family isn't the closest of families so I will have to rely quite a bit on her information to get started as her children don't seem the least bit interested in that side of the family .

Thoughts are appreciated, Lisa

[CatrionaL]

Hi Lisa

Have you the possibility of printing out a tree with just the information that you have gathered about her immediate family? Too much information all in one go might well be overwhelming. Better to have a few more bits of information at a time and then go back for more.

I do find that when relations see the information I already have, it does bring reactions like "Yes that's right" or "you've got that all wrong". This prompts tham to remember quite a few other facts.

Do hope your husband's grandmother gets enthusiastic about your research.

Regards
Catriona

[JustJean]

Hello Lisa

I'll echo Catriona's thoughts and hope that your husband's grandmother does get excited about your research! What a joy it is to find folks that willingly share their memories about family members and their own childhoods too.

There are two approaches to your situation and because of the distance factor you are somewhat limited in how to proceed. I've used a basic Familiy Group Sheet format to achieve pretty good results. It's helpful in that it's a form to fill in. The questions are posed for you...ie Name:...Marriage date:....Cause of death:....etc etc. I think it also helps them to recall things in the logical group format. Who were the parents and then who were their children. It gets complicated when doing several generations though in that someone can be named as a child on one sheet and then named as a parent at the top of another. I was only working with one generation at the time.

The other approach will not be easily done in your case. A direct interview type conversation where you can ask the individual questions that will "jump start" their memory banks. My own grandfather lived to the age of 100. When he was in his 90's my daughter had a class project to write about someone in their family and to gather facts about them. She interveiwed Great Grampa and learned things like "what do you remember doing when you walked to school?"....."what was your favorite snack to find in your lunch pail?"......"did you go on a honeymoon?" This type information is most precious and can make for some wonderful biographical notes to be included with all the facts and figures. Perhaps you could write out some questions like this and allow her to read them and respond in writing. If extensive writing is difficult (as it was for my grandfather) then you could maybe do a phone interview and record the conversation on your end??

Whatever you decide please don't wait! It's never too soon to start collecting information

Very best wishes...and please do let us know how you get on with your project!

Jean

[Lahb]

Hi and thanks for the replies! I have no information about her family at all which is one of the reasons I'd like to start this. In fact my husband didn't even know his grandmother was alive until a few years ago. His mom had a falling out over 30 years ago with her and she ceased to exist! Very sad We've only met her twice and she really did have some wonderful stories about a great aunt who was on the stage for a while. I write to her several times a year to keep her updated on our kids and thought if I could include a simple form for her to start filling out, hopefully that would get the ball rolling. I'll give the simple family chart a try to give her the idea of what to put down, but I do hope she'll include any and all stories she'd like.

Jean - your story about your grandfather reminded me of my great grandfather. When he was in his 90's my mom and grandma took a tape recorder on a visit to him and started asking him things about his childhood in England. It is such a nice keepsake to have - his stories and even songs. A few years later we went to visit his sister in the US and took the tape on the visit. She had Alzheimer's for years , but when the tape was played for her - she sat up and said "that's my brother Ray" and began to sing along with him on the tape and answer back to his comments. A wonderful experience for those who were there.

I'd love to be able to do that in this case, but we aren't planning a visit out East at all this year . But anything is better than nothing! Thanks again, Lisa