Thinking of writing a book

[pompeyboy]

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?

Steve

[Peonynon]

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

[suttontrust]

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.

[adee7]

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

[Jean Price]

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