October is Family History Month. And that got us talking about the meaning and value of family history. Have you ever thought much about it? What is “family history” to you?
If you Google “define family history,” virtual AI machines spin out a definition that is seconded, thirded (Is that a word? No, surely not.) and otherwise backed up by a plethora of sites all talking about family health and medical history. Nope, not what we’re talking about.
Scroll a bit further and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, more commonly known as the Mormon church, defines family history as, “Identifying and learning about your ancestors.” What a convenient definition: narrow and deeply supported by the astounding archival records of the church and its home-grown Family Search software.
As much as we appreciate our Mormon friends, there's more to family history than our ancestors, which on its own is already overwhelming. Just thinking of all those ancestors and what to track down about each one, from where, and what to do with what we learn makes us sweat.
But here’s what we so easily miss in that process – our families today, aka ancestors to future generations. And that is much simpler and an easier place to start for most of us.
Family History & You
We want to help you focus on your family history in a much more personal sense.
Pause and think about your family. Who comes to mind? A spouse and children, furry or human? A larger blended family? Or perhaps you immediately wrap in your parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, too? No matter who you have in mind, now think about the history of that family unit.
In practicing this approach, our co-founder Ellen came up with these pieces of history for her family:
Traditional “Family History” Elements
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- Lived in WI, NC, DC/VA/MD, and TX, with one daughter who is now more Texan than anything else.
- Lots of family travel, mostly road trips, with some far-flung adventures thrown in.
- Grounded daily life to work/school, sports, and neighbors.
- She and her spouse both worked for the US Federal government and spent the second half of their early careers working from home.
A lot of what Ellen came up with is covered by public records—birth, death, and marriage certificates, along with newspapers and census and property records. Those are the very same records that genealogists would gather to learn about ancestors from 10s to 100s of years ago.
Less Traditional, Maybe More Valuable Family History
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- Own family language, including regular words that have strange meanings as well as words that are entirely made up.
- Message boards, whiteboards and letterboards alike that exhibit the personalities of her family as they fill them in.
- The recipes for shrimp de jonghe and coffee cake that were stars of every Christmas at home.
- The homemade cards Ellen makes for her husband for every Valentines Day, Birthday, and anniversary.
Sorry, most of these colorful family history Artifcts are private, but here are some pics to give you the ideas.
While traditional elements can tell you a lot and lead to a lot more questions, such as why all the moves, the less traditional family history gives you a feel for what the family dynamics and day-to-day life was really like. What makes the family tick, if you will. When it comes to family history, we care about both types of information and stories.
Family History: 4 Ways to Fill In and Protect Yours
We challenge you this October to focus on your own family, however defined, and within a narrower scope of time – try just the last few years since COVID, for example. Less stress on the finding. More emphasis on the memories and the sharing. Pick even just one of the following to get yourself started.
Seminal moments.
CELEBRATE them, document them. How you do this is up to you. Conventional options are photo albums and scrapbooks. Grander options are a family reunion tied to an anniversary of some sort. For us, we’re of course more inclined to Artifct that, perhaps starting with Artifcting our Life Firsts checklist (download free here) and “best of” photos for favorites moments and memories, the details of which always fade too soon.
Critical details.
We’re talking life, death and everything in between. To protect you and your family and all you have built together, take your first steps toward recording life data in a digital vault of your choice, like that offered by Trustworthy. Enter basics first: drivers licenses, passports, and car titles and/or loans. You’ll FEEL the progress. Let it motivate you to keep going: insurance policies, mortgages, 401ks, and more.
Your photos.
No, photos are not all worth 1,000 words, but you’ll be devastated if they all disappear. We love the advice we’ve heard often from Cathi Nelson, CEO of The Photo Managers, to back them up to three separate locations, e.g., phone, flash drive, the cloud. You should do this often, and software like Mylio can help, but at the VERY least, back up all those pics this month.
CLICK THE IMAGE to read our story: “Emergency Go Bag: Don’t Forget the Memories” for more tips.
Give a Story, Get a story.
GIVE A STORY: YOURS! Skip the memoir for now. You’re getting overwhelmed even thinking about it. Write down one story of your own that you love to tell. Now share it with someone, in person and out loud, if possible. Storysharing is more powerful than storytelling because you engage the person in a way that is so much more memorable. Be sure to Artifct yourself telling it too. No one can do it justice the way you do, your voice, your words.
GET A STORY: A FAMILY MEMBER'S. Maybe you remember hearing it once, and you have forgotten the details. Maybe you’ve never heard how grandma came to be a physicist and the projects she worked on. Ask. Record it. Artifct it. Share it. And get more tips from, “Storytellers: Beware!”
Let This Be the Beginning!
Whether you’re just getting started and want to go deeper or are already in the thick of family history and are looking for more ideas, even new fodder for family reunions and holidays, enjoy this shortlist of Arti Community favorites from ARTIcles by Artifcts:
Happy Artifcting!
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The first four days of our 12 Days of Artifcts challenge. Objects with stories, your stories!
