A number of years ago I felt prompted to write a history about my father. He died quite young and most of my children and all of my grandchildren never knew him. I thought by recording his history for them they would come to know him better. Due to a busy schedule, the project ended up taking me about three years to complete. But it was in the journey that I discovered numerous unanticipated blessings, including:

• Growing closer to my aunts and uncles
• Better understanding of my father and his parents
• Healing of broken family relationships
• Enhancing relationships with my siblings
• Feeling closer to those who have passed on and an excitement to meet them someday

As I was wrapping up my father’s history, I was prompted to begin a history of my mom. She is still living but I had to do a lot of research because her memory has faded.  I wish I would have started many years ago. In April of this year I completed my mom’s history. As I look back at the experience I realize there has been a goldmine of blessings that I never anticipated.  My most recent prompting is to write a history of my older sister whose life has been full of trials that her siblings, children or grandchildren do not fully understand. I don’t know all the reasons why I need to write this next history, but I do know from past experience that there will be a treasure trove of blessings associated with it. 

When I began my first history, I knew nothing about writing a history. With two behind me and beginning my third, I am still a rookie.  I know I have much to learn. However, I also know that the journey is even more important than the destination. It is in the process of working on these family histories that relationships are built and enhanced. The end product preserves the facts, but the relationships developed along the way provide the greatest value to the process. 

If you have ever had a prompting to write a history of a relative, I encourage you to follow the prompting and get started. Don’t wait until life is less busy or you have free time. The Lord can guide you and help you along the way. Here are a couple of suggestions that I have learned along the way that may help you with your journey:

• Gather all you can about the individual including physical and electronic records, journals, pictures, diaries, letters, awards, recordings, and family papers.
• Interview personally or write to people who knew the individual and ask for their stories and insight.
• Break the history into segments or chapters such as ancestry, childhood, education, marriage and family, trials, work experiences, music, hobbies, service, etc.
• Don’t worry about making it perfect your first draft. Just start writing and get as much as you can on paper. Later you can go back and clean it up or have someone help you edit it.
• Involve other family members in your project. They can add perspective, depth and insight to the project.
• If you find a hole in the history, move on and come back to it later. Many times when you are researching one thing, it will lead you to information about another area that you were missing.
• Intersperse the text with photos and other visuals. Readers enjoy visuals.

Best wishes to you as you discover the unexpected blessings and joy that come from writing family histories.

–Dave Castleton-Director, Granite Family History Center