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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: suttontrust on Saturday 02 December 06 12:05 GMT (UK)

Title: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: suttontrust on Saturday 02 December 06 12:05 GMT (UK)
Could you contribute to my research by answering this poll, please.
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: Cathymjp on Saturday 02 December 06 12:11 GMT (UK)
I think you should go for it.  If you publish it I will buy a copy for my hubby - who thinks I am completely obsessed by dead people, in fact he thinks all my family are mad because we are so interested in the past.

I am hoping to write my family history and then give copies of it to my cousins, many of them are interested in the family origins.

Cathy  :D  :D
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: Nadine Moore on Saturday 02 December 06 13:29 GMT (UK)
Suttontrust

Sounds a really good idea, i'm sure with input from all on RC you could do a series, not just the one. ;D

Keep us informed and let us know when you want our input.

Dinie
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: julianb on Saturday 02 December 06 13:42 GMT (UK)
I'm thinking of writing a book about family history - not a "how to" book, there are plenty of experts doing that. This would be about why "ordinary" people start researching, what they learn from it, and how it changes their perspective. Rootschatters would be an ideal pool of experience for this. But what do you think?

All power to your elbow.  I'm sure Rootschatters will be able to volunteer info, as long as they know what they are volunteering for.

I discovered a whole host of things about one branch of my family which I had no idea about.  It was my paternal grandmother's family, and as she died when I was aged two I never got to hear her stories at her knee, if you know what I mean.

JULIAN
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: White Lady on Saturday 02 December 06 14:04 GMT (UK)


Suttontrust

Go for it and keep us posted on your progess.   :)

Christina
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: MarieC on Sunday 03 December 06 08:52 GMT (UK)
Great idea, Suttontrust!!!

Go for it, and keep us in touch.  I'm sure we can give you input!!  :) :)

MarieC
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: suttontrust on Sunday 03 December 06 09:20 GMT (UK)
Thanks for the encouragement.  I must make it clear that, although I have published articles, I have never written a book, so this is very speculative.  What I have in mind is to collect a largish number of family history fans (as well as some who started and ran out of steam - know any?) and put their experiences into a coherent account.  Names can be changed to protect anonymity.
If you're interested, please PM me with your email address and general thoughts on this project.  I will formulate a questionnaire.  Let's do it.  ;D
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: Rena on Saturday 09 December 06 07:20 GMT (UK)
I never got to hear her stories at her knee, if you know what I mean.

JULIAN

Julian, I've added that sentence to my list of the saddest things I've ever heard. 

My grandmother didn't have stories - she had a drawer with fascinating contents which I used to ask if I could look at.  At the time I was too young to realise they were her memories but now I wish I'd asked her why she kept a broken string of fragile luminescent beads which she called 'moonstones', then there were the pretty lacy postcards, the box of medals on ribbons and did she say the large heavy brass pocket watch was her father's or grandfather's.

Suttontrust, looking forward to hearing you've started your first paragraph  :)

Rena

Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: suttontrust on Saturday 09 December 06 07:25 GMT (UK)
Hi, Rena, is that a challenge?   ;) If you'd like to join the group (3 of us at the moment) who are working on this, please PM me.
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: Rena on Saturday 09 December 06 08:23 GMT (UK)
Hi, Rena, is that a challenge?   ;) If you'd like to join the group (3 of us at the moment) who are working on this, please PM me.

I'll have to take a raincheck on that as I'm gearing up to write how to survive in business after the Reaper calls.

good luck to all of us  :D :D
Rena
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: trish251 on Saturday 09 December 06 08:25 GMT (UK)
I was 45 when my grandmother (one of) died. She hid many of her stories - I found them out some years later. I don't think she would have been pleased

Trish
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: Simon G. on Saturday 09 December 06 14:52 GMT (UK)
I'd just turned 19, if I remember correctly.  Was my first year of University anyway, around the March I believe.  I was reading history, and I'd grown up hearing my Grandmother's stories of her life during the war.  I thought it a good idea to make the history I was studying become more personal by looking at the way these events had affected my family, just like how I'd heard those stories from Grandma and learnt of wartime Britain.
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: julianb on Saturday 09 December 06 15:27 GMT (UK)
I guess I started in my early teens - writing down the family tree, after grilling my  muum's parents.  But that was as far as it got for 35 + years - then the serious research started.

JULIAN
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: suttontrust on Saturday 09 December 06 15:52 GMT (UK)
Could sgolding and Julian PM me with your email addresses - your contributions would be welcome, especially as you appear not to be typical  :o
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: AnjiM on Saturday 09 December 06 16:16 GMT (UK)
Suttontrust your idea for a book sounds great.  I'm always intrigued how and why others started on the family history quest!  I'd love to know how you get on.

I started to take a real interest in my family history in my late teens/early twentlies.  I was intrigued by my Great Grandmother and remember going to St Catherine's House to get a copy of her birth certificate.  I remember being quite shocked to find she'd been born in a workhouse to an unmarried Mum!  Then for some reason I didn't explore any further.  I guess there were other things going on in my life.  It took another 15 years or so, broadband and an increase of information on the internet to fire up my interest. I'm amazed how far I've progressed in the last couple of years.

Let me know if I can help to contribute.

Anji
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: Burrow Digger on Saturday 09 December 06 23:41 GMT (UK)
I inherited some old family letters from a great uncle - they talked about my great grandparents who came out to NZ from Devon & Aberdeen. 

I tried doing some research at the local LDS family histroy centre during the 1990s (before I turned 30), but didnt get very far so I stopped.

Once I went online - around 1999 - things exploded and I've been doing this seriously since 2000.   Now I am in my 40's. :)

Bd
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: KathMc on Sunday 10 December 06 10:32 GMT (UK)
BD,

Your story sounds very similar to mine, although I started as  a way to get closer to my mom when I was younger. Little did I realize having kids would do that.  ;) I too went to an LDS center in the early 90s and they were not at all helpful, and the only thing I could find there was my grandfather's SS death listing. I went to a census office and found some things and then stalled. Got back to it after kids and starting my own business and the Internet allowed me to take off. Now I haven't looked forward.  ;D ;D

Kath (always looking back ;))
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: Christopher on Saturday 06 October 07 12:42 BST (UK)
Could you contribute to my research by answering this poll, please.

Hiya suttontrust,
Will you be requiring us to do more than answer a poll ???

Christopher
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: pompeyboy on Saturday 06 October 07 13:04 BST (UK)
I didn't start till i was around 49,early last year,it came about because of a pull out in the Radio Times and was at the time just a passing interest,through that i got onto the BBC family history website and through their forums i got onto Rootschat,been addicted ever since,glad i did as now found out that hardly anyone in my family ever talked about the goings on of the family,still trying to find out why? ;D

Steve :)
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: Peonynon on Saturday 06 October 07 13:04 BST (UK)
Hi,

My father was given a suitcase of photographs that belonged to his mother.  We were only allowed them for a very short time.  So I scanned them into the computer as he told me the names of the people.   We needed to make a copy for everybody interested before they disappeared!!

My father was telling me about an Uncle and Aunt that had never had children.  He thought it was sad that in a few years time their would be nobody who knew who they were.  For some reason it struck a chord and I am now totally obsessed with researching the family tree!!!!   

I feel it is a good way to acknowledge my ancestors.

Peony
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: suttontrust on Saturday 06 October 07 13:11 BST (UK)
Thanks again to everyone who has contributed to this.  Some time ago I set up a shared document on google and quite a few people shared their answers to my questions.  Then other things intervened and I haven't done anything with it.  However, this is prompting me to start up again.  So anyone who wants to contribute should PM me with their email addresses and I'll get it going again.
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: adee7 on Saturday 06 October 07 13:46 BST (UK)
I started about 25 years ago by writing down what I knew of my parents and grandparents.

I asked questions of an uncle and my mother and recorded those conversations in a notebook.  When my mother spoke of her parents' ancestry (scattered info) I taped the material.

This was all put away while I worked at 2 jobs and later tended to some elderly ailing folks in my family.

When I acquired my computer about 4 years ago, the boxes of stuff came out as did some wonderful old photos and I haven't really stopped the searching since.

Kathleen
Title: Re: Thinking of writing a book
Post by: Jean Price on Sunday 07 October 07 21:32 BST (UK)
Hello,
I still have the family trees for my mother and father, as dictated to me by my mother, when I was about 10 years old.  (That is nearly 50 years ago!!!).

During my teens, I drew up family trees for the historical novels I was reading. I had no idea then that you could research your own family.

When I married in my mid twenties, I really started as I married into a large family, and needed to write all the relationships down, so that I could understand who beloged to whom.

Have not looked back. And it has been very handy being the data entry operator for three different family reunions. That really increased my data base, and gave me lots of contacts.

Jean