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Question: I noticed that you added a historical fact about Stalin banishing Trotsky to the marriage story of your ancestor who married in Utah. If she wasn't Russian and not connected to Stalin or Trotsky, why on earth would you add this fact to your family's history? ~ Maralee, Cypress, Texas Answer: Social and Political History makes genealogies more interesting by a factor of 1,000. Yep, I have scientific analysis to back it up. Okay, not really. But our ancestors didn't live in a world boiled down to birth, marriage, and death on a chart. They lived in a world with social dynamics, economic issues, and political leaders that either helped or hindered the sense of global or regional security. Think of the Carter years in the US and ask, were these years of positive or negative social, economic, or political stability? If you were born after 1980, your parents probably forgot to mention those years because Ronald Regan was having an impact on the world and Carter was soon...

Reader Question: Where should I put the photos in my writing? Should I put the images next to the paragraph I wrote? Should I put them at the end of a chapter? Or should I put all the photos in a photo section?  ~ Robert Murphy, PA Thanks, Robert. Great question.  Having written over 120 drafts of my ancestor's life histories and publishing numerous scrapbooks and family journals, I suggest the following: Keep it Simple Keep Photos Close the "The Action" I would avoid creating a 'photo section' at the end of a chapter or an entire book. Think about a history textbook, not that we're striving to write in that length (or boring fashion), but picture a history textbook or any non-fiction book written for children. Where are the pictures of the airplanes, political leaders, or animals? They are placed beside next to the subjects of the paragraphs. Children would rarely turn to the back of a book to find a photo section or even the end of the chapter. They want a ...

Tall, dark and handsome. Is there any other character description more cliche than that, even if it's true? Your ancestor might have been marked on military draft cards or passports as Stout and Medium for this build and height. What can you do with these descriptions, combined with photos, to describe your ancestors to your relatives? Take time to look at a photo, if you have it, and see if any of the following words fit your ancestor's physique. 30 Words to help you describe your ancestor's facial features  #genealogy #writingtips PHYSIQUE Petite Compact Burly Beefy Brawny Barrel-chested Heavy-set Obese Pudgy Pot-Bellied Portly Stout Lush Wiry Sinewy Hulking Herculean Narrow-waisted Full-figured Ample Rounded Voluptuous Curvy Hourglass Plump Gangling Lanky Willowy Lithe Slender Gaunt Stocky Strapping Chiseled Broad-shouldered Bowlegged Some of the descriptions you might use might make you blush a little. Do you wonder if you're writing a family history or a romance no...

How would you describe someone to another person who has never met them? Sure you can define their character and positive traits. It would be better to describe their facial features so the second person can locate the first person in a crowd. When it comes to describing our ancestors, we need to use words that will help our family pick out their ancestor in photos or in a list of names that might mean little without mental images based on physical descriptions. When describing facial features, start with the easiest to describe first - eye color. Whenever possible, don't settle for dull words like blue and brown. Be more specific. Eye Color Coal Ebony Obsidian Aquamarine Baby Blue Cornflower Crystal Gun-Metal Chestnut Dirt/Mud Topaz Charcoal Graphite Silver Bottle Green Emerald Jade Hazel Violet Ultramarine Once you've described the eye color, provide details about the eye shape. This can be challenging but give it a go. Eye Shape Almond-shaped Squinty Bulging Heavy-lidded Hoo...

In previous posts, we've discussed the importance of writing about your ancestor's physical appearance and how to find details about their physique , if you don't have photos to aid your writing. Today, let's give you a quick list of adjectives that can help you describe your ancestor's hair color and style if perhaps you have a photo to draw inspiration from. Hair color is the easiest to assess in color photographs. It's more challenging in black and white images. Pick the adjectives that best create a mental picture for you. Hair Color blonde strawberry blonde golden blonde mousy ash brown brunette jet black salt and pepper ebony raven flaxen tawny chestnut russet sandy auburn copper silver snowy sooty black Hair texture is often overlooked but an essential aspect of describing hair. Be sure to use one of these words to narrow down what type of hair your ancestor had, or didn't have: Hair Texture Bald Wispy Fuzzy Wavy Frizzy Wild Untamed Unmanageable Str...

Descriptions of our ancestor's physical appearance can help us see them in our mind's eye. But how can we discover what they looked like if we don't have videos or photos to provide evidence? Discover some of the best resources for physical descriptions. Then use these clues to improve your family history writing projects as we discussed in  How To Describe Your Ancestor's Physical Appearance .  Military Draft cards are a gold mine of information. Sadly, they are primarily descriptions of males as men were required to register during the Civil War, WWI and WWII in the US. The features recorded include: height (tall, short, medium) weight (slight, medium, stout) hair color eye color race physical markings - tattoos, scars, large moles physical deformities (if applicable) You can access military draft records on Ancestry , FamilySearch , and Fold3 . Passport Applications are incredible because they are not reserved primarily for males. Additionally, some passports come ...

Fiction novels are compelling not because of the world building, but instead, they have engaging, fully-fleshed out characters. In short, good stories are about people. So why is it that family histories are usually about facts rather than the people behind the facts? What's more, how can we change that? One quick trick is to describe the physical appearance of your ancestors. But wait, I don't know what my ancestor looked like. How can I describe their appearance? That's a great question, and we'll circle back to that in a second post, but for now, let's talk about how to add descriptions about your ancestors. The trick is to realize that you don't have to be gifted at writing to describe your ancestor well. The face of Elrond was ageless, neither old nor young, though in it was written the memory of many things both glad and sorrowful. His hair was dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver; his eyes were grey as a clear evening, ...

After creating numerous heritage scrapbooks, writing the first draft of 120+ ancestor's lives and turning two into published books, I've learned a few things about storytelling. First, scrapbooks have condensed stories from an ancestor's life. Narratives written in a novella format can have more depth. Register style family histories lack the depth of a narrative and the graphic appeal of scrapbooks. That discovery aside, sometimes we have an ancestor for which we have mountains of content that could be compiled into a 7-volume biography. But should we write that much about one individual? In short, should I include every detail in a family history? When writing a narrative history about an ancestor, the goal is to introduce your reader to the individual's life including the familial, community, and world events of the time and place they lived. And it's surprising that having too much information to draw from is often more challenging than too little. You might fac...

Does everything that happens in our life produce documents and photos? And are these moments less important because they lack such evidence? There are so many things that we know about ourselves and our family members that should be recorded. Some funny, some sad, and some just normal but treasured. We can add more to our family history and deepen our connections with one another if we'll record the things that no documents can prove. FUNNY I have a friend who has eight children. When they were traveling cross-country on vacation, they stopped at a gas station. The parents, children, and the dog got out to take a breather and fill up the car with gas and snacks. When all was finished, the family loaded up and headed off. Two hours later, the mom said, "Where's Fido?" It seems the family had left Fido back at the gas station two hours back. Should they turn around? Would Fido be deceased? Would Fido find his way home? The family high-tailed it back to the gas station b...

Conflict, villains, and plot twists make for fantastic drama in shows like Games of Thrones or Poldark, but does every family history have this much drama? No, or probably not. However, you can add dramatic elements to a story, even if you think your ancestor is a bit on the dull side. I recently completed the draft of this book “ Papa: The Life of Lewis Brown ” to share with my family. The public will not see this book so I can write mind-numbing genealogical data I found while researching his life. Right? NOT if I want my children and my Brown cousins to READ this book. So, I needed to make it enjoyable. How do I make a bowling alley manager’s life exciting without turning the book into a fictional story? I decided to add a parallel storyline. Parallel storylines are used by screenwriters to make films more interesting. A screenwriter will have multiple characters storylines progress forward along on similar paths. In genealogy, we can do the same thing, but we are not limited to cho...

Let's be brutal. Photos without stories are worthless. They are no better than the photos in picture frames you buy off the shelve with people you've never met and they probably didn't know before the photo shoot. Here are six tips to give your photos value by recording the story the photographer captured. 1. BE OBVIOUS Think of your collection of unidentified persons in photos. What is the number one thing you would like? NAMES! What's the second and third thing you wish the photographer had recorded? DATES & PLACES With that in mind, what do you think you should do first when giving your photos back their stories? Record the obvious facts of names, dates, and places. 2. GO DEEPER Explain the why : Why was this photo taken? What was happening? If the photo was taken in April 1942 in Grandma Helen's backyard and has the 5 Smith brothers, what was going on?  Was it really an Easter celebration, Spring equiniox, or Passover?  Was it a family reuni...

What is the difference between a memoir and a textbook retelling of history? The most significant difference is that memoirs dive deeper into the thought process of the storyteller. When you write your autobiography, include your past thoughts to help your readers understand the decisions you made. It makes for a more powerful story and shares details that no genealogical record will ever have. When I wrote From Metal to Rhinestones: A Quest for the Crown , I started relating the factual account of my participation in various competitions such as what I wore, what I said, how I looked, and how I placed in the end. The details fit the scrapbook storytelling format because by nature the journaling in these albums should be brief. However, a memoir needs to relate more profound emotions and connect with the senses that can not be revealed in photos and news reports. I needed to transport myself through time and place myself in my mind at the time I competed or prepared for each compet...

Reader Question : I have a family story that I want to include following the A Recipe for Writing Family History method. However, the story involves a person of questionable character. My relative received medical assistance from a General in General during World War II. Without that support, the relative would have died. Years later, the general was captured and executed for war crimes. How do I share the human side of a war criminal without offending people and making it sound like anything other than history? Answer : Write the story as it happened. Your job is not to pass judgment on everyone in your writing. Your task is to present the facts you discover in as objective a fashion as possible. Then let your reader decide for themselves. Many of criminals in history did positive things. I remember visiting the Saratoga Battlefield in upstate New York. There is a monument of Benedict Arnold. Actually, it does not mention his name and is only of his boot to honor his heroic deeds du...