Genealogy Chat

I should like to compile all my family history stuff into a readable book but not sure how to go about it. I have copies of parish records, bmd certificates and old postcards of the ancestors' birth places. Photographs of them, the houses they lived in, the churches they were married in, and copies of deeds relating to them, wills... but how to get it altogether? Has anyone any ideas?

Hi I have made a book from my family history although i don't have as much info as you yet. My great grandmother made a family bible thats is to be passed down the family. I have basically made a new one as there was alot of indo she didnt have etc and i have basically made it like a scrapbook that way you can have info on individuals to cover one page or a double spread. I have then got little info boxes either on the page if it fits or over the page telling people about that particular family member. It woks really well this way!!!

Thanks for the replies. I had the idea of a scrapbook but the pages would have to be loose, at least to begin with, as I would need to scan in the various photographs, postcards etc. Spent ages in Paperchase the other day looking at various files and books but nothing looked quite right. Although I have all my info filed reasonably well I don't think it would mean anything to anyone other than a fellow genealogist hence wanting to make a readable book. I think when I finally get it together I won't be adding to it...this is my life's work!

Ness, It's relatively inexpensive to get A4 sized pages copied and spiral bound by a copy bureau. Then you can put a nice cover on the front before giving it in for binding - maybe glue or get a photo/piece of artwork laminated to the cover board? I'm planning to do the same, but the story ain't over yet ... keep finding new rellies and leads. Good luck! Regs Jane

Thanks Jane and Chris for those ideas. The binders which trap sheets of paper sound excellent. Any idea where I might obtain such items?

I started by writing names backed up with copies of certificates, postcards etc., but soon found that this covered only a few pages and was not giving the picture I intended. Starting with myself I wanted to give some of the stories of MY life that would normally be handed down to the next generation and possibly the one that follows. There are so many things that I, you, have seen and done and gradually the postcards, family snaps etc., began to portray ( as best I can) what life has been like through the decades - 30s, War, and then the 50s onward. But all these stories need a background of the time - and thats where old pics and postcards come in - so that the reader may experience the problems of rationing, school-life, social and economic life in general then as opposed to now etc., Then I think of the stories that I have inherited from my parents and grandparents and they go into the appropriate section. And so on ........... I have also quizzed other relations to get their stories and those handed down to them .......... There is a difference between Family History which is a bunch of names, and genealogy where life is put into those names. That should, in my opinion, be your objective. Faskinatin' hobby, innit ?

Yes, that's what I had in mind. When I look at all the folders and files piled up around me I feel the whole thing looks a bit dry, although intensely pleasurable for me! I shall seek out these binders and some very good paper and see how I get on. Probably going to take me years.....

There is such a thing as scrapbooking and you can buy these and most craft shops to go with them you can get alphabet stickers, bubbles these are really good as they magnify things, tags, buttons ribbons, frames, special papers the list goes on. I went on a workshop the ablums look so brill when complete you can make them for weddings, birthday, family, anything you can think of. Hope this is of some help. Jennie

I have XP 2000 and in Microsoft Works there are some Journals plus other ideas that you can type up. I am doing a chapter for each family and putting all the info I have on them together and adding pictures of churches/areas of where they lived/born ect. It is amazing how much information I have now I have started putting it together. I can also see what is missing and what I need to work on and then when I find it I can go back and add it. One day when I print it all up I expect I shall have to look for some sort of file to put it all in. I, like you, do not want to just produce a load of names and dates. I want to find out all I can about my ancestors. Good Luck Irene

I also have Microsoft Works but never thought to look at the Journal thingy. Brilliant. Thanks so much for all the ideas you have given me. Just need to get started now.....

Yes, I keep all my stuff on desktop - too much bother with scrapbooks etc., and it is also easier to make amendments, insertions etc., Problem comes when you find that your rellies become inferior to the area and then you are into Local Studies more than genea ! but still good fun !

Thanks for asking this Ness, the replies have all been really interesting. I hope you don't mind me adding to this thread by asking - which order do you set it all out in? Do you start from yourself and work backwards or from the earliest ancestor you have found? I've started to do this working from the earliest ancestor but it does get a bit muddly adding info about all their children then coming back to your direct ancestor and starting again with all their offspring - not that I have got very far in compiling it all yet. Sheila

I dont think there is any one way to do it Sheila; I have started with myself in my family scrapbook/bible;

Sheila, yes, I'd thought about beginning with the earliest ancestor (just desperate to get that parish record in with my seventh great grandparents' signatures in 1767 as soon as possible!), but I can see that it could definitely get in a bit of a muddle. Oh dear, have struck a problem before even starting!

Hi Ness I'm doing an album for a friend, but find it very hard to set out, as the families overlap with each marriage. If I include each spouse (and their respective ancestry) I end up losing track of the original family, but if I leave them out, I end up tacking on pages of family notes that relate to people I mentioned three chapters agoas wife/husband of one of the first lot. It's all a bit of a nightmare!! The family tree itself is better, but it doesn't give space for any interesting background information. I'm beginning to despair! Any suggestions (which could help us all) would be gratefully received!! Love Natalie

I know the question was not directed at me but I started by making an ahnentafel and that automatically gives the chapters you can work on generation by generation backward or forward. However, it is also better to give an idea of the district if starting with yourself and then, when it comes to parents, their surroundings, type of house etc., and then to grandparents ... shows the difference between the electric shower you got and the tin bath 80 years ago; the large families 100 years ago compared with the 2.4 now yet both were probably cramped into the same size house and so on .....

Our Aunt kept a scrapbook for each year from her marriage in about 1945. In it she put everything from photos, disagreements with the council letters to the local paper, ordering decorators, gardeners, everything. Except for a few years after her husband died. for the last three years or so she has sent us a book of poems based on her records. Se's in her 80s now. We tried to start a similar thing but it only lasted for one holiday. D

Hi all just reading through this thread . I purchased a book from whsmiths called OUR FAMILY HISTORY by CHANCELLOR PRESS it is A4 size and starts with myself and my wife and works back i find it very good you can addphotos if you want . hope this is of some interest thanks Howard

I have decided to do my Family History writing in 'Projects' as I have far too much information to get into one book. The 'Projects' started as presents to elderly relatives as I could not think of material presents to give. My first project was about Emigration to America from Ireland in the 1920's and I included personal photographs and history of the times of the area that this person lived in Ireland. The second project continued this theme but as I now had copies of letters from Ireland to America and America to Ireland dating back to the 1850's, I used a letter writing theme with more photographs of a little known side of the family which not only reached the elderly person but all the English and Irish and American cousins who had gone to the celebration and it was a big talking point. These projects are about 30/40 A 4 sheets, done in Desk Top Publishing on the Microsoft Works, with photographs on photographic paper and a family type photograph or painting on the front and back, which are then laminated to form stiff covers. The 'book' is then bound in a plastic spiral. I have one copy made for the person who is receiving it, one copy for ourselves and 2 extra copies to go down each side of the family. At present I do most of the work to include the photographs, but I take it all to my local shop where he will laminate and bind 4 copies for £10. I have also just done another one on 'Evacuation during the Second World War' and am now working on another one where I have found letters to a newspaper by a G Uncle which I am pulling together. I find that doing projects the material is much more manageable and you can complete a project in a couple of months and feel you have completed something. Janet

Thanks everyone for the input on this thread...it's been really helpful and I'm buzzing with ideas. Yes, perhaps doing projects is a good way round it. Am beginning to think putting everything in one book is going to be unmanageable, not to mention, rather daunting!