Genealogy GOLD pre-teen interviews grandmother

Genealogy GOLD pre-teen interview of grandmother shows the way to unearthing family tradition carelessness!


This blog is partially ghost written by a pre-teen. Her parents guard her internet-use very carefully. She is not able to post photos, address, or private details. She is on facebook but all "friends" must be approved by her parents.

Yet in the interest of genealogy, we have been granted permission to transcribe her interview of her grandmother --- therefore it is with great pride we introduce A young person's genealogy interview on Genealogy Is Ruthless Without Me.

Enjoy!

Thank you Grandmother, for helping me with this school assignment. I have some questions here that I would like to ask you.

Where did your ancestors come from?

Originally many of my ancestors came from France and Germany pre-1400
Then many of my ancestors had migrated to the United Kingdom pre-1600
But nearly all my ancestors were here on the east coast of the United States by 1776.

Do you know the origin of your family name?

No, not yet.

Tell about any ancestors that you know about --- names. dates, other important historical details-and any stories about them.

I have a lot of information on several of your ancestors. Would it be okay if I just print out the stories I have of them and we could start a binder of ancestor stories?

okay

Who is the oldest person you can remember in your family as a child?

Armenita Clementine Chapin Reed

What do you remember about them?

She was very old by the time I remember her. She had very long hair always braided and circled around her head. I remember one day seeing her with her hair down and it went past her waist. My mother loved her dearly.

Are there any family heirlooms that have been passed from one generation to another? And do you know where they are now?

Well the Family Bibles are very precious to our family. I believe Aunt Doris may have the Hayley-Dikes Bible.
Aunt Carol has the Hayley-Reed Bible.
and maybe Uncle Bert might know where the Cook-Reed Bible is stored.

This question is not on my list of questions; but......
Do all families have Family Bibles? and where do you get them?

Wow wow I just remember your parents have not received a Family Bible. It was very customary for the bride and grooms families to converse before a wedding and decide who would give the Family Bible to the couple. It was always considered an important "wedding gift". In our family; it was Aunt Josephine who usually bestowed the Family Bible on the new couple. The custom now is for a couple to go to a department store and register for their gifts but before department registries (at least in my family); the families would share information and compile a wedding gift list making sure the new couple had all that was needed to start a new home. The Family Bible was always on that list.

Thank you for your answers. Can we have more interviews at another time?

yes of course.

End of Interview

This interview merely scratched the surface of this young person's interest in her family history.

What was important about this interview was the preparation of questions. Having questions already written out for the young genealogist helps the flow of the interview.

Short but mind provoking answers are best when answering a young person's questions. The questions will then lead the young person to where they are interested in learning more.

Rather going into long stories of ancestors; a date to fill a binder full of stories might help the interview to proceed. Plus I really thought it would boost her grade on the project.

When asked about a remembered ancestor keeping it simple is best. Such as I remember being with grandpa in the garden as a child, or grandmother taking me to church. Since this young interviewer is very hair-do conscience I chose to speak about Granny's long hair.

Regarding family heirlooms; good question! It was not important to elaborate as to the fact many heirlooms had been pawned off long ago....lol etc. But it gave me an opportunity to document important information that if my interviewer decided to read in detail her genealogy in the future --- she might find a path to a primary source of information.

This question led to an inquiry that again spoke about family culture and traditions. Where do people get Family Bibles? But it also rambled my own mind on a terrible slip of neglect!!

Needless to say I have just added to my Christmas list! Now to just compile a list of next generation families with no Family Bible!!! A Family Historian's work is never done!!!