I've been fortunate .... I do up single A4 pages for different older rellies and each one enjoys reading my regular updates.... I try to write these up from the point of view of those rellies direct forebears .... I'm fortunate in that there's a definite naming pattern on several lines...
I usually include at least one picture, either a map or an image of a church that I mention in these A4 pages. They get one at Christmas, one at Easter, one for their birthday and one for either Mothers Day or Fathers Day (depending on if they are female or male) ...
They delight in any hint of a SCANDELL, of course NOT from their own generation who were all so pure
but sometimes there's enough hint to remind them of some further oral history that I then follow up. Several bigamists, a female arsonist sentenced to death, but transported instead, a sad suicide, many infant deaths, some children fostered, a divorce in early 1900s with the wife achieving custody of the child AND the offending husband sent to prison for domestic violence AND no co-respondent even mentioned in the many (near 100) pages of the NSW Supreme Court's records... some medical history showing Breast Cancer for one line in their early 40's ... including a male ... yes a male..., many seafarers so that's being an interesting series of A4 pages to track them, some Royal Navy chaps too, and back to Duke of Wellington at Waterloo as well ... AND I've NOT YET got back much earlier than say 1750's ,,,, AFTER SOME NEAR SIX DECADES of researchings .. (err... got lots of 'romantic' pedigrees from those earlier times .... BUT not had time or patience to follow up ... too much of interest in the NSW lot ....
My generation of their descendants love these too, so the different elderly rellies now have proper A4 lever arch files with plastic sleeves and the A4 pages etc are inserted into these. Its never a burden or a chore for me, and it is a great way to continue to enjoy family history searchings.
Of course once the internet came along, and with the increasing popularity of family history research, many of the oral history stories are able to be explained by the easier access to digitised records (newspapers in particular), and so sometimes I find that the oral history that has been passed down actually refers to a different generation from the actual lore, but so far, none of the rellies have become too disappointed.
As to the intense development of the hobby through the advances in technology, thus causing perhaps future generations to have nothing left to look for, well I am sure that they can always re-validate my own research, and of curse AS I AM NSW BASED, then there's always the opportunity for those future generations to finally have access to the CLOSED records held here. (NSW Births are closed for 100 years, marriages closed for 50 years, deaths closed for 30 years) .... that's four generations of records that will become available !
Cheers, JM
