Reader (and professional genealogist) Maria Tello commented in my recent post on shifting my focus that she is in the process of creating biographical sketches for each of her ancestors, so that she can pass information on to her children and grandchildren, who are not genealogists.
I was intrigued by the idea and asked her to give me a little more information, along with an example.
Maria wanted to make her research more easily understood by her children and grandchildren, she is writing these short sketches of each ancestor. Her research on some of her lines goes back to the 15th century, so it’s a big task!
I’m thoroughly impressed that Maria’s goal is to write one of these each day. I think that’s a wonderful way to make an overwhelming project seem much more attainable.
Maria said that she used the Register Style Template from the New England Historic Genealogical Society as the basis for her sketches. I love that sources and footnotes are a prominent part of the template.
Here’s a sample sketch, of one of Maria’s ancestors on her father’s side. She explains, “My accreditation is in Mexico and the bulk of my research is done in Spanish language areas. I used tools that were developed for New England colonial area research, however, and that works splendidly.”
Click on this link to read Maria’s sketch of José Anastasio Tello.
Maria reports that her children not only have found the sketches easy to understand but they’re actually grateful for them!
In addition to the obvious benefit of having an easily understood way to present genealogical information to those who follow you, I can see how useful this exercise is to find holes in your research. I can also see its benefits for reacquainting yourself with your ancestors.
Reunion, the genealogy software I use, will create these reports automatically, I discovered. But Maria and I discussed the benefits to doing them by hand. There’s a big difference between creating something and reading something. (This is part of a larger post I’m contemplating on manual versus automatic in genealogy–keep an eye out.)
As I look toward shifting to a different family line in my own research, I think I’m going to take the time to write a bio sketch for the main ancestor I’ve been researching, George Washington Adams (1845-1938) before I say goodby to him for a little while. I think it should be a fun exercise.
Maria, thank you so much for sharing what you’re doing! And best of luck completing all the profiles!
Such a good idea. I try to write biographical pieces as part of my one name study but haven’t used a consistent format like this.
Glad you found it helpful!
I’ve been doing the same thing and I use Reunion too. I open the Register style report created by Reunion in Word and can modify and add to the canned text before saving it as a PDF. All the hard word–formatting and footnotes–have been done for me and I get to concentrate on the fun text part.
Glad that works for you, Susan! I like that hybrid approach.
I write bio sketches of my further back ancestors that I don’t know lots about. My family definitely appreciates the storytelling aspect of them.
I think it’s a great way to share info with family! Thanks for commenting.
Those who like this idea should join WikiTree.com. It’s a free, open-source, shared tree that encourages writing biographical profiles for each person in the tree. It’s been my observation that, on average, the people on WikiTree are more disciplined that those at FamilySearch and more collaborative.
Thank you for reaching out with that info, Jim!
A group of nine female authors from Montreal have recently published a book “Beads in a Necklace: Family Stories from Genealogy Ensemble.” We have been giving workshops on writing our stories and how to self-publish. Copies of our book are available at Coles” in Dorval, also in Chapters in Pointe-Claire anad Clios in Point-Claiare Shopping Plaza. Enjoy
You might want to check out our blog at Genealogyensemble.com
Wishing you much success with your book, Claire.
A year ago I was telling my adult son about one of his ancestors and he told me I have to write these stories down, as I’m the only one who knows much about the ancestors now that many family members have passed away. He suggested I do one bio a week and I’m afraid I haven’t done more than a dozen. I’m motivated to continue with this now. I’m a long-time Reunion user but realize that I don’t know about many of its capabilities. Thanks for the Reunion suggestions and also the WikiTree idea.
You’re welcome, Linda. I’m glad you found this post motivating!
I didn’t know Reunion had this feature. I need to check it out. Thanks for sharing this info.
Reunion has a lot of different reports, once you start digging around. This one is a Register report.
My genealogy software writes these types of biographies too, but I prefer to write my own. It makes them more interesting to read when they aren’t as mechanical, and I can add facts and other things that a software program might not do, such as ages of a child who died very young, and significance of certain dates. “He died suddenly in a car accident and was buried on Valentine’s Day, February 14” or “She was born during a winter storm on January”, etc.
I think it’s great that you’re writing these reports, Shasta. Taking the extra effort to write them from scratch sounds valuable to me (though I haven’t yet done it myself). Thanks for commenting!
It was good to see the sample sketch. This is what I have started to do but lacked a sample to help me stay on track. I want to focus on the more recent generations that I knew or heard the stories about so that family members of the next generations can have an opportunity to connect. Some of those stories may take more than the sample, but I wanted a guide
Thank you for sharing!
Glad you found it helpful!
That was an interesting blog (as usual) and a nicely written sketch. However, I would suggest that the sketch “buried the lead,” as newspaper folks would say. I like to start my stories with the item that will grab the attention of the reader, something like:
Petra Lozamantes (roughly translated as “child of the lovers”) apparently was.
Of course, my style isn’t intended for a genealogical journal, but rather to inform my extended family.
Regardless of whether you like this style or not, here’s a way to get feedback from your family members. Form a family group on Facebook, and periodically publish a story there. The number of “Likes” will advise you whether you’ve succeeded in getting their attention.
Am I missing something? These bios don’t appear as being unique to the individual. Don’t really tell us what made them ‘tic.’ They appear as an obituary but don’t tell us what they were like. Did they hate the local paper, did they read the paper on the back porch in their pj’s? How do you find an interesting anecdote about someone who never had a story about them placed in a newspaper?
I’ve written anecdotes of relatives I knew but, what do I do for someone I’ve never met?
I hope I’ve phrased the question without offending anyone – didn’t mean to. I’m just curious.
Thanks.
Don, as I understand it, these biographical sketches are an alternative way to present sourced data gathered in the research process, as opposed to anecdotes. Creating anecdotal stories about ancestors I think would require a different standard for genealogical proof. They’re a different animal.
Your question about finding interesting anecdotes about people who weren’t in the newspaper is a good one. That’s where oral histories come in, I think. For me, oral histories aren’t especially reliable, since they’re often based on the recollections of an elderly person, or on family lore, but they do provide more colorful stories. You might consider searching local or genealogical libraries for family histories of your family that might provide those kinds of stories.