The last decade and bit have seen an explosion in the number of people engaged in researching family history, and for that we have the internet to thank.
When my sisters began digging into our family history in the 1970s, it involved long journeys from London to the east Highlands to trawl over dusty parish records, and stand in ancient graveyards recording names, and dates on memorial headstones.
It took weeks of preparation, endless letters and great chunks of time on trains, and buses, which today can be telescoped into a few hours wandering across the net interrogating a range of online records and genealogical platforms.
Once done, many are faced with that simple question of what to do next?
For some it is enough to have stripped back the centuries and made links with places and people long forgotten, but for others that is not enough and for them there is the desire to writ it down to share with family or just to see the process through from start to finish.
In my case, it was also to place our family in the context of where they lived, and when they lived, which in turn helped offer up an explanation of how they lived their lives.
And in that I am always guided by something Ian McMillan, the Yorkshire poet, journalist, playwright, and broadcaster, said about his mum and dad, that they had, “lived out little their lives in a great century”.
But those little lives are the stuff of history, because while the “great events” shape and influence all our lives, we too bring something to the great events, whether it be as a mill worker toiling in a cotton factory in 19th century Lancashire, storming the Normandy beaches in 1944, or suffering the awful conditions on a slave plantation, cutting the sugar cane under a fierce unrelenting sun, and bullied by a brutal overseer.
The trick becomes how you tell that story, and for some that isn’t easy.
They may lack confidence in their writing skills, particularly if their last attempt at formal writing was at school decades ago.
And there is that other challenge of how to process and organise the story, which for a few becomes even more challenging when instead of a factual piece they opt to create a fictional account, where the names have been changed but the substance stays the same.
All of which is a lead in to an interesting project by my friend Lois, who runs writing groups and is now engaged in assisting those who want to turn grandad’s war or aunty Mabel’s youthful experiences into a story.*
The group differ in what they want to say, and in both their writing skills and their confidence, but by sharing their research and pooling ideas of how to approach the tasks, each is learning.
And that for me is a brilliant start.
Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson, 1979-2018
* FAMILY HISTORY WRITING GROUP… INSPIRING STUFF! https://loiselsden.com/2019/02/26/family-history-writing-group-inspiring-stuff/?c=74084#comment-74084
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| The christening, Greenwich, 1981 |
It took weeks of preparation, endless letters and great chunks of time on trains, and buses, which today can be telescoped into a few hours wandering across the net interrogating a range of online records and genealogical platforms.
Once done, many are faced with that simple question of what to do next?
For some it is enough to have stripped back the centuries and made links with places and people long forgotten, but for others that is not enough and for them there is the desire to writ it down to share with family or just to see the process through from start to finish.
 |
| The conversation, Manchester, 2018 |
And in that I am always guided by something Ian McMillan, the Yorkshire poet, journalist, playwright, and broadcaster, said about his mum and dad, that they had, “lived out little their lives in a great century”.
But those little lives are the stuff of history, because while the “great events” shape and influence all our lives, we too bring something to the great events, whether it be as a mill worker toiling in a cotton factory in 19th century Lancashire, storming the Normandy beaches in 1944, or suffering the awful conditions on a slave plantation, cutting the sugar cane under a fierce unrelenting sun, and bullied by a brutal overseer.
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| At the market, Ashton-under-Lyne, 1979 |
They may lack confidence in their writing skills, particularly if their last attempt at formal writing was at school decades ago.
And there is that other challenge of how to process and organise the story, which for a few becomes even more challenging when instead of a factual piece they opt to create a fictional account, where the names have been changed but the substance stays the same.
 |
| Waiting for something to happen, Paris, 1980 |
The group differ in what they want to say, and in both their writing skills and their confidence, but by sharing their research and pooling ideas of how to approach the tasks, each is learning.
And that for me is a brilliant start.
Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson, 1979-2018
* FAMILY HISTORY WRITING GROUP… INSPIRING STUFF! https://loiselsden.com/2019/02/26/family-history-writing-group-inspiring-stuff/?c=74084#comment-74084
Thanks!! Another great post!
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