I decided, at some point, that I would put together a full family history for my three children. I don't know, maybe as a legacy of some sort? It's not as if I haven't accomplished much; I've served on city council, I've served as mayor, helped in many community projects, volunteered my time to teach art classes to kids, i'm active in my church, i've spent three years remodeled my home, i'm an ametuer photographer and I'm currently employed by the federal government as an administrator for the DOE. But, my greatest bragging right is my children. I'm raising three respectful, intelligent kids, i'd say they're the most amazing kids in the world, but that comes out sounding idiotic. My kids are great, I guess that says it all. I look at my life and the impacts i've made on the world around me, and still wonder, is this enough of a legacy? Apparantly not, at least it's not enough for me.
When I prepared to start my genealogy research, I stopped for a moment and kicked myself. I have two children from my first marriage, and one with my current spouse. So, essentially, i've doubled my workload by having had children with both marriages, but that's alright! I got a good chuckle out of my thought process, convinced myself to quit whining and moved forward.
I started out by going and visiting with each set of grandparents. Luckily, I have remained very close with my ex-in-laws (they've adopted my youngest daughter as one of their own!). I asked to borrow various photos/albums, and made copies of each of the relatives as far back as I could go. I got names, birthdates, marriage info, death dates, etc. Then I just sat and visited with the grandparents....and visited....and visited some more. It is awesome to hear the stories they have to tell, some were enough to curl my hair!
During the visits, I sat with my mini-Dell notebook and typed away. Then I took all the info home, and that's when the real work started. Online research. It took me no less than six months to track my kids' full genealogy down online. I have traced back to the 1600's on some sides of the family, but only to the mid 1800's on other sides. I'm quite happy with what I've accomplished.
After printing out all the info, and buying all the albums and special papers and embellishments, I was able to sit down, almost a year after I started my mission, to FINALLY put part of my kids' family history into a book.
I designated color themes for every family book, generally using two to three colors per book. I bought papers that looked vintage. I even went online and printed out free vintage clip art images. My kids have family members who have been, fire fighters, policemen, sheriffs, barbers, telephone operators, convicts, etc. We have ancestors who are Jewish, Irish, African, Hungarian and everything in between. I have been sure to keep the stories and heritage true to history; The good, the bad and the ugly alike.
I started with my two oldest kids' paternal side of the family. My theme is sort of a patriotic red, blue and brown (I know, it's supposed to be white!). I'm nearly done with my first book, and it's absolutely gorgeous, my kids' grandparents are tickled with delight at reading their stories and memories in print and reminiscing about the photographs.
Preserving our family history and heritage is so important. Each family should have at least one person who can act as the historian. I am doing this as a gift for my children and their children's children. It's my gift to my ancestors, my children and my future descendants.
I'm certainly no expert, but after getting this one book of many done, I feel like I should write a book on how to preserve memories and how to make your family genealogy come to life. I am planning on putting together five individual books for my kids' various sides of the families. And, who knows, I may publish a book when I'm all done, to use as instructions for those who wish to take on the task of being the family historian
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My scrapbooks, like my children, are my legacy, my talent, they're as much a part of me as...me! God has blessed me in many aspects of my life, but mostly in the areas of creativity and compassion. I may end up posting more on this. Hopefully I can inspire others to travel this path.
Our heritage and ideals, our code and standards - the things we live by and teach our children- are preserved or diminished by how freely we exchange ideas and feelings.
~Walt Disney
