Writing family stories

Back in May, I was editing my parent’s family story.  The book was to be a simple telling of our family, except that it  grew beyond even my parent’s expectations. A lot has gone into it since then.

First in the book is a record of  my parents’ growing up years and their years together, with anecdotes about my grandparents and my parents that I had never known about before.

That led to stories from each of their six children,  that includes me— our memories growing up on the farm as well as stories about us and our families, husband and children, and in some cases grandchildren too.

Tacked on to this, I heard that the next generation,  being the grandchildren, wrote about their memories of visiting Grandma and Grandpa at the farm. I haven’t seen those stories yet, but I’m sure they’re entertaining.

Added to all this  history were photographs. Photographs of our parents as kids— not so many of Mom, and more of Dad, surprisingly. Photographs of their wedding day, the farm, my siblings  and I as children at different times, some alone, many in groups. Photographs of family celebrations: weddings, graduations and family group shots. We had such fun raiding our photograph collections.

There’s more to tell, but too much for one posting. Check back for further posts on the family history book, later this week.