You've begun delving into your family history. You've already
filled in all the names of your great-grandparents on your
family tree. You've begun collecting the legal
documents that record the milestones of your ancestors' lives:
birth, marriage and death certificates. You've even located your
family in a few census records. But before you push further back,
why not stop and really get to know these people? After all, that's
the purpose of tracing your family roots: knowing more about your
ancestors.
If you have names, dates and records through your
great-grandparents, you have fifteen lineal ancestors to get to
know, both
living and dead. To get to know your deceased ancestors
better, you have to dig deeper on the paper trail. To better
acquaint yourself with your living ancestors, start conducting oral
history interviews. Both of these techniques are explained in more
depth in this set of articles. Part one discussed digging deeper on
the paper trail, while part two is an introduction to conducting
oral history interviews.
Laptop Battery Digging up Your Family Roots: Conducting Oral History
Interviews
According to the indictment, Jones would steal various IBM and Penguin computer servers from Verisign's warehouse in Virginia and sell them to Johnson. Johnson would then sell the servers to several individuals, who would sometimes place them for sale on eBay. As a result of this scheme, the indictment alleges that Jones and Johnson caused Verisign to lose more than $120, 000 worth of computer equipment. In the indictment, Jones and Johnson are charged in three counts with causing the interstate transportation of stolen property, namely IBM 330 and 335 servers, in violation of 18 U.S.C.
Thinkpad There is one topic that almost all people love to talk about:
themselves. Luckily, this tendency provides a wealth of knowledge
to genealogists, who want to know more about their relatives
anyway. To begin, start with your oldest living relative. Expect
each interview to last a few hours. The length and number of
interviews will depend, however, on the age of your relative and
the level of detail of his or her memory. Interviewing is tiring
for both parties; if possible, interview over a series of days for
an hour or two at a time.
Schedule your appointments with you interviewee; don't just drop
in. Calling ahead allows your relative to prepare, possibly by
making notes of favorite stories or even gather other resources to
show or give you. In-person interviews provide the most
information, not only in additional resources but in physical cues.
Telephone interviews are better than nothing.
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Microsoft It's best to record the interview in whatever manner possible:
cassette recorder, camcorder, still camera, paper and pen, etc.
Always have a back up. Even if your camcorder or cassette recorder
has never had a problem before, take notes. Bring extra paper,
pens, tapes, batteries, etc. The rule here is "If it can go wrong,
it will," so plan ahead and be flexible.
That is because Verisign uses an intermediate CA certificate between the root CA certificate (which is installed in the browsers) and the server certificate (which you installed in the server). You should have received this additional CA certificate from Verisign. If not, complain to them. Then configure this certificate with the directive in the server. This makes sure the intermediate CA certificate is send to the browser and this way fills the gap in the certificate chain.
Laptop Computers In addition to calling ahead and bringing the necessary
materials, come prepared with questions. Some relatives need no
prompting, others do. Try not to let the interview turn into
information harvesting. Ask questions about details and really try
to get to know your relative better.
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Laptop Computer If there is a particular family story that you'd like to hear,
be sure to ask, but let them do the telling. Remember that
important dates need to be verified independently. Family stories
have a tendency to get better with each telling and while there is
probably a kernel of truth, take these stories with a grain of
salt. They are excellent to collect as a part of your
ancestor history, but should not be the basis
of all research or supersede any and all contradictory sources.
However, do not correct or interrupt your relative as he or she
tells you a story, even for clarification. Make a note and ask when
he or she is ready.
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Desktop Computer Begin your interviews by discussing your relative's own life in
detail. Try to hit early childhood, later childhood, teenage years,
education, courtship, marriage, children, professional and later
periods of life. Ask for physical descriptions of people and places
mentioned, especially close relatives and residences. If you know
of major moves, military service or major world events (the
Depression, wars, etc.) during his or her life that he or she
doesn't mention, ask. Be sensitive, however, to painful memories
that they decline to discuss. Pushing too hard in these areas will
end the interview very quickly.
Notebooks After you have explored your relative's life completely, ask
them about the oldest relative they remember. Ask for a physical
description of this person and his or her surroundings, the
occasions when your interviewee interacted with him or her, stories
and anything else they can remember about this relative. From
there, work backward in time toward the present discussing
relatives' lives.
Lenovo In addition to the wealth of information your relatives can
provide in various areas of your family history, they might also
have additional resources. When you schedule an interview, ask your
relative about these other resources. These include family
photographs, newspaper clippings, old letters, family
papers/documents, a family Bible, journals, heirlooms, etc. Your
relative may be kind enough to let you have some of these valuable
resources, or you may be able to scan, copy or photograph them.
Record them in some way, even if you can only write a detailed
physical description. Often, these family artifacts lead to more
stories and information. For photographs, for example, get the full
names, ages and relationships of every person in the picture.
Hard Drive Transcribe the interview(s) as soon as possible. You may find
you have more questions after hearing the interview a second time.
Collect all the resources your relative gave you and document them
as well, including letters and photos.
Travelstar If you plan to use or publish any of the information your
relative provides you in any way, get permission and get it in
writing. Even if you'd only distribute the stories among your
family, make sure your relative is comfortable with this. There may
be some things he or she would only share with you and would rather
not share with the rest of your family. If your relative asks for
any part of his or her life not to be shared, always honor her
request. The feelings and wishes of your relatives are more
important that "historical" or "journalistic" integrity in these
cases. It may be best to send your interviewee a copy of what you'd
share for approval before distributing it further.
Gateway Interviewing your relatives is an ongoing task. You'll always
find aunts, uncles, cousins and more that you can interview and it
could take weeks or years to complete the interviews with one
person. Despite its daunting size, collecting family histories is a
task that is easy to start, and start you must. You don't know how
much longer you'll be able to interview your relatives. Get to know
them better today. The genealogist's lament is "I wish I'd asked
him when he was alive." Don't let it become your cry, too.
Laptop Parts A quick example story: my father, an avid genealogist, worked
with a man we'll call "Bill." One day they were discussing family
history, as my father often does, and Bill mentioned that his
great-grandfather was over 100 years old and still living. My
father urged him to interview his great-grandfather, who was the
grandson of slaves. Over time, my father
repeatedly urged Bill to conduct this interview, but his friend
put it off. A few years later, the great-grandfather died. My
father asked Bill about it and was surprised to learn that Bill
had finally interviewed his great-grandfather. Unfortunately,
the tape recorder failed, but Bill had wisely taken notes of the
interview. Those notes are now the only record his family has of
his great-grandfather's life and memories. Bill is eternally
grateful, as anyone would be, to have these memories
preserved.
Software Real family history research is more than recording names and
dates. Digging up your family roots is more than gathering birth,
marriage and death certificates. The goal of family history is
coming to know your ancestors better. Start getting acquainted by
fleshing out your family roots for both your living and dead
ancestors.
A descendant of many avid genealogists, Jordan McCollum works for
10x Marketing, an Internet marketing firm. For more information on
fleshing out your
family roots or professional genealogy
research, see
Heirlines Family History & Genealogy.
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