I thought this was interesting - you might, too. Food for thought. Pam Swiler, President Ionia County Genealogical Society >BREATHING LIFE INTO ANCESTORS >by Ted Pack tedpack@thevision.net > >["Anyone who wants to copy [this article] may do so as long as they give me >credit and spell my name correctly." Ted Pack] >How many times have you found an ancestor and wondered what they were like; >what made them laugh, what made them cry, what made them give up the farm in >Vermont and move to Kansas? What was the Civil War like, not for the >generals, but for an 18-year-old farm boy in the 118th Ohio Volunteer >Infantry? What was it like to marry at 18, move to the howling wilderness >we now call Indiana, and be expected to provide for your new wife with axe, >plow, and musket? It is too late to ask our pioneer ancestors, of course, >but you can ask your living relatives what their lives were like, and you >can write an autobiography. With luck the story will be passed down. If >you write a biography of your grandparents, your grandchildren could have an >idea of what life was like for them-a span of five generations. Your >children might think of you as dull; mine do. Your great-grandchildren, >assuming someone finds a copy of your autobiography in an attic, might find >you fascinating. >Some people have a hard time thinking of anything to write, and some of us >ramble along for hours at the slightest provocation. I'm the second type of >person; most of my relatives are the first type. I wrote up two pages of >general questions for my relatives. The questions are also on my Web site. >If you answer all of the questions in complete sentences you'll have a start >on an autobiography. If you answer each of them with a couple of >paragraphs, you will have 30 pages of heirloom more valuable than a gold >watch. You can see it at: >http://www.thevision.net/tedpack/bioguide.html > >Denise >dcmeta@interx.net >One Planet ~ One People > > > >============================== >Visit Ancestry's Library - The best collection of family history >learning and how-to articles on the Internet. >http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library