Make A Family History Book

How To Make A Family History Book – Part 2

Are you ready to show off your genealogy research in a book? Well, then here are 5 more points showing you how to make a family history book.

Make A Family History Book

So, what are you waiting for? Please read on!

There’s more to know to create a family history book?

By now from the first part of this article, How To Create A Family History Book, you will know what part of your family tree you will want to explore and write about.

You will also know what kind of book you will want to write, by when you want it complete, and where to collect information.

Well, I will cover five more points to help you write a family history book that you can be proud of.

And on top of that a book that will be cherished for generations to come.

Discussed in this post:

  1. Using Documents and Records
  2. Include The Stories
  3. Organizing Your Research
  4. How To Introduce Your Ancestor?
  5. Adding an Index and Source Citations

Other posts that will interest you:

Express Your Thoughts Below

Express Your Thoughts Below!

I would love to hear from you.

6. Using Documents and Records

In the previous point, I discussed in detail that you could read local history books and also books about occupations.

This will help you to build up a picture of what your ancestors’ lives were really like.

I also briefly discussed that you can use certificates, heirlooms, photographs, and family stories to fill your family history book.

Look at documents and records in more detail

Anything that you can find around the house or that has been given to you by relatives can be put into your book, with permission of course.

Documents and Records

However, DO NOT go overboard.

Use caution with all the information!

Stuffing all of your family documents and records will create a book that is bulging at the seams and will be information overload for you and your readers.

You do not want to overwhelm whoever is reading your book.

All records can be filed and stored away but not all of them need to be put into a book.

Be selective with information!

Try being selective and put in documents that are unusual, unique, or that prove a point that you have made.

You DO NOT need to put in the full record but merely an excerpt if you wish.

This will also help cut down the size of your book.

When you include any document or record be sure to caption it.

This way it will be clear to your readers exactly what you are referring to and how it relates to you.

This can also be done with any charts that you have created with your genealogy software program, maps, or illustrations that you have.

These programs are great at creating extra pieces of information that you can put into your book.


7. Include The Stories

We have looked at ways to show what our ancestors’ lives were really like. This has been through records and documents that you have, as well as heirlooms, photographs, charts, and maps, etc.

What's Your Story?

Looking at stories can also add to the detail in your book.

But who were your ancestors?

You may have heard stories and anecdotes that have been passed down through the generations to you.

Why not include these as well?

They are just as much a part of your family history as the physical documents that you have.

Also, if you do not include them then you will risk the possibility of losing a part of history.

And they will be gone forever.

Hearing old family stories is what got me interested in family history. It is the reason why I created this site.

These stories can add to the life story of your ancestors. It can help build up a picture of what they were actually like.

The stories can be amusing, interesting, or just cover the daily life of your relative.

But they are still a part of history that needs to be remembered.


8. Organizing Your Research

By now you have amassed quite a collection of notes, documents, photographs, and a lot more on your ancestor.

Documents and Letters

It can be quite overwhelming with all this information in front of you. To make sense of it all you will have to put them in order.

Let’s get some order!

To do this for each ancestor try putting your files in chronological order.

Try to see their entire life from birth to death. When you do this you can see if there are any gaps in your research.

Organizing is a great way to check if you have all the information on your ancestor and to find out what more you need.

If you can not find anything on your relative for a given period then just state this in your book.

Ordering makes your book more readable!

Anyone that reads your book, whether a relative or just a casual reader, they may wish to carry on the search for more information on your ancestor.

With a chronological order, you can tell your ancestor’s life from beginning to end.

If you continually jump around from old age to childhood then this can be quite confusing for your reader.

You need to maintain the order of the story so that your ancestor’s life is quite clearer.

Organize Genealogy Research - Organize Your Genealogy Mega Collection

Check Out Organizing Genealogy Research Collection Now!


9. How To Introduce Your Ancestor?

Ordering your story is quite important when telling the life of your ancestors. But consider using a hook to grab your reader’s attention.

This hook may be from a later stage in their life. Here you can mention something of interest.

Hook

This way the reader will be intrigued to know more about the person and will continue reading.

Starting with “My grandfather Bert was born in Norfolk, England on May 27th, 1827” can be quite boring.

Let’s make it interesting!

Start with an interesting story or point in your ancestor’s life.

Your reader will be hooked and will want to know how they got to that point in their life and what happened afterward.

For example, did your ancestor have to migrate to escape poverty and to make a better life for themself?

You could start with this point.

Try to draw the reader in

Then you can start telling the story of your ancestor’s life up to that point and then what happened after they relocated.

Your book doesn’t have to be just a different form of what your records hold. Try to put some heart and soul into it.

I have done the same with my family history book and I feel so much closer to my ancestors because of this.

By researching my ancestors more and discovering why they made the decisions that they made I became more connected with them.

And as a result, I wanted to learn more.


10. Adding An Index And Source Citations

Any lengthy account on your ancestor will need to include an index.

By doing so you can find where to add to if you come across any new information during your research.

Also, an index will be invaluable to your readers.

Index

The whole life of your ancestor may not interest your readers. But maybe only a small part.

For example, your ancestor may be a sibling of your readers, and they may only be interested in what it was like growing up for them.

In this respect that may have no interest in your ancestor’s life after leaving home.

Don’t take this to heart though. We are all unique.

So, your cousin will probably be interested in your common ancestor on your paternal line, but maybe not for your maternal line.

An index is therefore invaluable to your research and your readers’ experience.

You could also include a surname index and also a place index.

Need to cite your sources!

Adding source citations will also prove that you have carried out research on your ancestor.

Source citations are also useful if say anyone wants to continue exploring your family history.

They will have an account of your ancestors and where to find the information that you have used and found.

So, please cite all of the sources of your information.


Thank You and Please Leave A Comment

I hope you enjoyed this article about how to make a family history book. If you have any questions or comments then please leave a comment below.

Please share with family and friends if you think this post will help others by using the social media buttons below.

Summary
Article Name
Make A Family History Book - Part 2
Description
Follow up with further ideas for your family history book. What documents and records you can use? Discover the answer and more in this practical guide.
Author
Publisher Name
The Genealogy Guide
Publisher Logo

2 thoughts on “How To Make A Family History Book – Part 2”

  1. Thanks for sharing this article. I really liked it. I got a lot of information from it which I can use to write my own family history book.

    Thanks again for sharing.

    Best regards.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *