| Every person on the planet is important. But you | | | | distributed among family and friends only? |
| knew that already. As a species we live and | | | | Do you see it as a full-scale account of your |
| prosper by the accumulated knowledge of our | | | | family's place in the scheme of things and |
| times and of those that have gone before. We | | | | therefore to be published by a trade publisher and |
| know what happened to earlier people for they | | | | stocked in all good bookshops? |
| wrote it down, or someone else did, on their | | | | Or is it some place in between where you decide |
| behalf, or over their objections. | | | | to publish it under your own imprint with the help |
| Writing a family history can be a pleasant | | | | of publishing professionals?A family history can be |
| experience full of hidden treasures and revealed | | | | as simple as an elongated family tree where the |
| astonishment as we discover a more human side | | | | bare bones of who married whom and which |
| to our forebears. A grandfather who seemed | | | | offspring belongs to whom is pencilled in. |
| stern to his grandchildren in his closing days may | | | | Or, it can be replete with anecdote and detail |
| have been the toast of the town for his | | | | about family members' achievements in the wider |
| charitable works and his comedic talents at charity | | | | world. It can be as elaborate as you wish --- or |
| events. | | | | have the time and resources to invest. |
| A doting grandmother may have been a | | | | Your family's history could conceivably go back to |
| risqué character when the world was | | | | the dawn of time and their exit from the Garden |
| more innocent. You can be sure that once you | | | | of Eden, as it probably must; but you are unlikely |
| begin to research a family history your world will | | | | to wish to write that far back. |
| begin to change. What you write for others to | | | | Well, you may; but much of it would have to be |
| read is up to you. | | | | conjecture and it would be most likely you would |
| If history is written by the victors, a family | | | | lose all but the most pedantic of reader, along the |
| history should be written with love and | | | | way. |
| understanding. Few of us want to be | | | | Whatever you decide, be aware that the book will |
| remembered for our weaker moments. And if | | | | be read after you have passed on yourself and |
| those family members we write about have | | | | will be no longer around to correct any |
| passed on, then we owe them the courtesy of | | | | misunderstandings that may arise. It should be as |
| circumspection. | | | | accurate as you can make it for in a very real |
| So, ask yourself, as you assemble your research | | | | way it will be your own history. |
| into publishable heaps, which would be the best | | | | It is important to get it right: for those who went |
| way to write the account of your family? | | | | before and those that will follow afterwards. |
| Is it to be an informal account to be copied and | | | | It is you. |