Beginners

Many people are interested in the history of their family, but often have their initial enthusiasm stalled when trying to get all the facts on their own family before starting.

What usually happens is something like this: it becomes apparent that your Auntie Alberta has been collecting the family information for years. But, she's passed on, and now your cousin who you haven't seen in years has the family bible and notes. So you write to Uncle Jim to ask for the niece's address, but since she's away at college, you won't get a response unless you're lucky enough to see her at Christmas with the rest of the family. Then, you find out all the info's in storage, but at spring break maybe she'll dig out that box way in the back of the who knows where.

Or, you write to a second cousin asking for a form to be filled out to clear up the gaps of knowledge on that side of the family. You know, listing parent's, siblings, birthdates, birthplaces, et cetera. All you're really dying for is the birthplace of your great-grandfather, but the second cousin gets bogged down trying to track a nephew's birthdate and you never get the form back.

What do you do? Disregard your well-meaning second cousin and niece, and immediately identify who the oldest know living relatives are. Talk to them on the phone if you have to, but conduct an interview while you can. You will never, ever regret it. It's been my experience that despite having a pretty good amount of names and details on long-dead relatives, any interviews you conduct will end up being more meaningful, filling you in on and bringing-to-life an unfamiliar past, even when details are sketchy.

If you conduct the interview over the phone, you can often use the phone's answering machine to record the conversation, or you can get a cassette recorder microphone with a suction cup to attach to the phone. If a video interview is too obtrusive, try using a small cassette recorder. And, check it out first by doing a "dry-run" rehearsal! I have several hours of a conversation with a first cousin that has a tick-tick-tick throughout due to an old malfunctioning recorder. Drives me nuts.

Despite the press to conduct an interview while you can, try not to rush the interview. Intend on spreading it out to several interviews. Don't get frustrated when facts are absent.

First, take a genuine interest in the person you are interviewing. Ask about any siblings, and how well they got along as kids. Ask about the Depression and W.W.II, and how it affected the family. Ask what the first family car was, and where the family might have traveled to go to visit relatives. Ask where so-and-so are buried, and who else may be in the plot. Ask about any childhood toys, or favorite teachers. Take a personal interest outside of the exact facts you want.

Second, look up the person being interviewed in the 1920 census records. If the interviewee isn't old enough to have been alive, look up the parents. Either way, it's more info to talk about that may trigger recollections on the next and following interviews.

The census records are available from the National Archives in Washington, D.C, the Federal branches of the National Archives, and the genealogical libraries of the LDS Churches.

I have posted some of the US census records that have been extracted for Claffeys. Much more work still needs to be done on this. I intend to post a list of the census records that I have, and those others have done.