Writing – GenealogyAtHeart.com

Here’s A Guide to Create Your Family History Book

A New Year is always time to make plans and set goals. I’ve just completed a series on Artificial Intelligence (AI) so it has hopefully given you some ideas to boost your family history output.

Two years ago I blogged about my one month deadline to write my personal memoir. You can read about it here. I strongly believe we genealogists often neglect the importance of documenting our own lives. Sure, we know what happened but just like our ancestors who didn’t leave many records, someday, someone will not be happy with you for doing the same.

Recently I was given the opportunity by author, photographer, and genealogist Rebecca Shamblin to review her new book, Leaving a Legacy: Turn Your Family Tree Into A Family Book (Life Remembered Press, 2023).

My long time readers know I’m not one to gush over the latest and greatest. I take a more middle of the road approach, looking for the pros and cons.

Seriously, I cannot find one con in this book. I can’t even come up with a suggestion for improvement.

This is a must read book if you are considering publishing a family history or genealogy book. I’m an eBook author but I understand the reasons that a hard cover book would sometimes be preferred.

If you thought that the task to write your family’s story was too time consuming or expensive to publish, think again! Rebecca has, through trial and tribulation, worked through the process several times and the reader can benefit from her experiences.

I strongly recommend that you purchase this book even if you aren’t ready to embark on creating a book. There are so many helpful technology tips – short cuts, how to, and step by step directions that it will benefit you in other computerized tasks you need to accomplish.

I’ll only give away one of the tips and it was such an Ah Ha moment for me. I don’t want to get into the debate of whether footnotes or endnotes are the way to go but suffice it to say, in my opinion, there is time for one and a time for another. Recently I submitted an article for publication that required endnotes. The endnotes in Word were formatted as Roman Numerals. My goodness, did that look clunky. Rebecca provides directions on how you can turn the Roman numerals into Arabic numbers effortlessly. Wish I had known that trick before I submitted the article! Definitely read the Word Processor Settings chapter.

Rebecca uses Family Tree Maker (FTM) software. Read the chapter even if you don’t use FTM as both RootsMagic and Legacy Family Tree can be used similarly to what the book describes. When in doubt, send your software company a message for help. Competition is fierce these days so it’s in their best interest to help you out and keep your patronage.

My favorite part of Rebecca’s book is how she handles sensitive genealogical discoveries. We all have them. One of my most sought out lectures is Skeletons in the Closet. Not sure how to write about that illegitimate child? Definitely follow Rebecca’s suggestions. She even provides excerpts from her own family history books to serve as examples.

I also loved the Distribution chapter as you want your book to be available long after you’re gone. Please do give a free book to your local library and if possible, to a larger library like Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana – they have an entire large room that contains family genealogies. I’m not an accountant but check with yours to see if you can get a tax deduction for your donation.

To purchase a copy of Leaving a Legacy, click this link on Amazon. Let me know when you’ve finished your family book and where I can read a copy.

Writing An Ancestor Short Biography

Two weeks ago I blogged about the discovery I made regarding submitting a short biography to my state genealogical society about my pioneering ancestor’s life. I’ve had several readers request ideas on how to get started.

First, relax! You aren’t writing a book so there is little time involved. I think the hardest part is to decide who to select to begin with. For my project, I decided to start with my husband’s lines and select the ancestor that was the earliest pioneer in the area. I then wrote a bio on his wife, their daughter that is my husband’s direct relative, the daughter’s husband, and so on down to his parents. I then did the same for my lines. But that was just me! You can pick anyone you like and go in any direction. Sure, typically in genealogy it’s best practice to go backward in time from present to past but if you already have the research done it makes no difference in who you select to highlight.

Second, if you are submitting the bio to a website then make sure you understand and follow their directions. If you aren’t sure, send a query before you waste your time and theirs.

If the site has a form filler, as mine does, it’s simple to bring up your tree and just type in the info that the form requests. I have two screens on my computer and can definitely use a third (hint, hint hubby!) so this makes the writing easy. If you have one screen only, you could toggle between your tree and the site or borrow a laptop/iPad/kindle to bring up the tree on that device. You can also do a screen print of the ancestor’s information and print but let’s keep that as a last option since we really don’t want to be killing trees for this project.

Next, you are writing in the third person which means you don’t use the word “I.” This is a biography and not an autobiography, which is about you. I’ve written earlier this year about writing your memoir. Biographies are all in the past tense because the person lived then and not now.

Keep it short and simple! Begin with the person’s start in life, such as “James Edward Jones was born on 1 May 1800 in what is now Trumbull County, Ohio. He was the third son and fifth child of Harold and Margaret Ann Hodge Jones.” It’s easy to switch to the next bio by just shuffling the facts presented. Here’s an example: “On 1 May 1800, in what is now Trumbull County, Ohio, James Edward Jones, the third son of five children, was born to Harold and Margaret Ann Hodge Jones.”

If you have information about James’ early life add it. You might not and that’s not a problem; just write next whatever you’ve discovered. It might be a marriage and children that follow. Look at census records to determine the career and location. Review the property records you’ve found and include where the family resided. Perhaps a big event occurred during the individual’s life, such as war, famine, pandemic, etc. that should be included. If the ancestor made a significant accomplishment in his community or the world make sure to note it. Most of our forebears did not so don’t feel that the individual isn’t worthy of memorializing.

End your biography with information from the death certificate, if available, obituary, family Bible, or community death index. Note where the person is buried, if known. If a significant contribution was made to the world, then note that as a reminder to the reader of the valuable service that the person made. One of my husband’s ancestors, Samuel August Samuelson, was injured during the Civil War, continued to fight for the Union with a gunshot wound and broken shoulder, was taken as a POW, and overcame his disability to farm 439 acres. He met an untimely death, being killed on his sleigh by a train that was not following safety guidelines. His community was in an uproar and legislation was enacted at the state level because of the accident that killed him. Due to the unfortunate accident, we’re all a little safer around train tracks these days.

Most of our ancestors, however, were simple, hard-working folks who paid their taxes, voted, and left few other records. I believe they should be remembered, too, for doing the best they could during the trying times in which they lived.

Next week, I’ll begin a two-part blog on how I broke through a 44-year brick wall.

Checking Your Genealogical Records

After building your family tree you most likely have lines that you haven’t researched in a while. With every research hour you put in, you gain expertise. It’s time to go back to the far-flung branches and recheck your initial work.

Sounds like a pain, right?! Nope, I have a fun way to do it.

Since relocating to Indiana I’ve discovered that my state’s genealogical society supports a biography project. It’s called Once A Hoosier. I was surprised to see that not one of my husband or my pioneering ancestors had been included. How did that occur? Well, no one submitted a biography. If you check the location of your pioneering ancestors you’ll probably discover what I did. That means it’s time to get busy!

First, make sure your ancestor qualifies. In Indiana, the ancestor must have been born before 1950, is deceased, and lived in Indiana for part of his/her life or been buried there.

The society makes entry simple as they have a form filler to add the pioneer’s name, vitals, children/their spouses, and a space to type in a biography. You aren’t writing a book here so it’s not intimidating which makes this fun. It’s also a wonderful way to memorialize your ancestors. Most importantly, it’s a great way for you to check your records.

The form filler has no place to add citations. This could be problematic but I’m looking at it positively. We should always check out sources so, if you find an ancestor listed and you’re not able to find a source for the “fact” that was written, you can always contact the submitter for more information. This should be our best practice anyway. Not adding citations to your bio is also saving you time from having to type in a citation. As long as you can support the fact with your personal records, you’re good to go.

As I enter bios I’m fact-checking each of my citations. My husband, obviously by our surname, has a lot of Swedish ancestors. As I was writing a bio for his second great-grandmother Anna Elisabet “Lisa” Torstensdotter Erickson I questioned several pieces of information I had found for her. I had a Swedish baptism certificate and census records that never listed Elisabet as one of her names. Instead, Lisa was recorded. I checked with a Swedish genealogist to make sure I was understanding the records and discovered a lot about Swedish names. You can read more about Swedish names here. Unless you read Swedish, click Google Translate in the upper right-hand corner of the screen for English. Thank you, Annika Höstmad of Find A Swede Genealogy, for translating Lisa’s baptismal certificate and sharing this site.

We really don’t know what family called each other. After careful analysis I discovered where the name Elisabet came from – one immigration document that originated in the U.S. Elisabet was a well-used name in the family so I suspect that she may have formally been named Anna Elisabet but went by Lisa so the parish minister recorded Anna Lisa on the baptism record. Perhaps when she came to America she felt obligated to provide her formal given name. I can identify with that as it’s happened to me; I use my family’s pet name but after September 11^th, I had to have many governmental records changed to reflect my formal given name on my birth certificate. So, I have an aka on most of my records now. In Anna Lisa’s case, in 1797 there were no formal governmental records so we’ll never know for sure what her given name was. I included that info in her bio.

If you’re wondering how you can get started on a bio project, simply do an internet search of the location where your pioneer ancestors resided. If a program isn’t offered or charges you and you don’t want to pay for that, then search for a larger regional society that may offer the program. I’ve discovered besides at the state level, that several Indiana counties also accept bios, too.

If you discover that your ancestor resided in a location that does not currently take bios, no worries. You can still write one up. Use any format you like or take one from a society that does offer the program. Then, .pdf it and save it with your ancestor’s records. Easy Peasy!