The holiday season can be a special time of the year when families, often separated by distances or other circumstances, will come together to celebrate. Opportunities to strengthen bonds, share news, and talk about shared experiences, past and present, will present themselves. Interest in sharing memories and stories always frequently occurs when someone brings out old photograph albums or charts showing family relationships.
The holiday season can provide an ideal opportunity for genealogists to gain insight into the lives of their ancestors. Once you have generated interest among family members, you should try and make the most of the opportunity by asking the right questions and providing them with charts and forms to provide you with the necessary information and details. There are several steps you can take in pursuit of this goal. Even if you are unable to reach every possible candidate with some knowledge of the past, these steps will put you in the best possible position to capture the answers you need and fill in the gaps in your family history. They may even lead you in directions or towards certain situations that were never considered prior to this time or were considered unsolvable brick walls. These possible steps are listed below and should be implemented BEFORE the holiday gathering:
1. Print out blank copies of pedigree or ancestral charts and family group sheets for family members, friends, or relatives to fill out.
2. Prepare a list of family members, friends, or relatives whom you either know or think would have been in the best position to know the facts.
3. Prepare a list of questions you would like to ask. Be sure these questions are open-ended which will force to the person to give details versus a simple yes or no answer. The handout on Oral History in our Research Binder at Fort Myers-Lee County Library has an excellent list of questions which could be used for this purpose. The questions are organized by time periods (Depression, World War II) and focus on events which would have been relevant to families living during the era in question. These questions are general enough to be adapted to almost any type of family or relationship.
4. Invest in a tape recorder or video camera and be sure you know how to operate it in advance of the gathering. Recording these sessions can be wonderful gift for posterity. However, be sure to ask permission to tape. Be prepared for the fact that some people will love the opportunity while others will refuse.
5. The holidays are good times to bring up the subject of family heirlooms. Whether in plain view or stashing in trucks, attics, etc., family members or relatives often have items that can provide valuable information about the past. This would also apply if a long time family friend will be in attendance. Sometimes neighbors ended up with these heirlooms for any number of reasons.
Avoid being pushy. You do not want your family to think you are looking to take away their heirlooms, property, or trying to dig up dirt from the past.
Most people will be gratified to give you the answers and let you examine heirlooms and documents if they know you intend to use them for historical and/or genealogical research and publication. They will be even more stimulated if you emphasize that their contributions will be acknowledged and that your project is truly for the family's sake and that all items will either be returned or steps will be taken to insure that nothing will be discarded.