Researching and Preserving Family History

Do you like a good mystery?  Do you want to try your skills at being an investigator?  Researching family history to find ancestors is like investigating a murder mystery.  In an effort to connect the past to the present for the future, we must interview relatives, search for clues in old documents, write an analysis or timeline, and solve the mystery.

Make notes of everything you know about your ancestors.  Use an ancestral chart to record their names, dates, and places.  Visit your oldest relative who has a good memory.  Take a recorder, paper, pencil, camera and/or scanner.  Make an appointment in advance and select a time when this relative will be rested and free of stress (not babysitting grandchildren or cooking dinner).  Ask the relative to share old photos and documents.  Have a list of questions ready before you arrive for the visit.  A recording of this relative’s memories will be a family treasure.

Begin searching online on Google.com, Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, and FindAGrave.com and in libraries and archives.  A wealth of information can be found in the Tennessee Room of the Jackson-Madison County Library at 433 East Lafayette Street and in the Madison County Archives at 1981 Hollywood Drive in Jackson.  The goal is to find documents that will solve the mystery of your ancestors and prove your lineage to them.

Attend genealogy workshops and meetings to learn research tips.  The Jackson-Madison Chapter of NSDAR holds a free work session for the public on the first Tuesday of each month in the Board Room of the Jackson-Madison County Library from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.  Mid-West Tennessee Genealogical Society meets the second Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church at 309 East Baltimore Street in Jackson.  Both groups are great sources for research tips.

After compiling information, preserve your history by creating a scrapbook and/or photo album, writing in a journal, creating an audio/visual recording, using a computer software program, publishing a book, or creating online memorials.

Subjects to include in researching and preserving your family history and memories include awards, bible records, cemeteries, certificates (birth and death), diaries, education/schools, employment, family events (birthdays, reunions, weddings, funerals), family trees, heirlooms, hobbies and talents (art, photography, sewing, writing, music), holidays and traditions, homes/places, letters, medical records, military service, neighbors and friends, obituaries, pets, photo albums, politics, recipes, religion, social/civic organizations, sports, stories and memories, vacations, and vehicles.  These subjects make family history interesting and fun for all ages.

As we advance through life, we add treasures and heirlooms to our lives, our homes, our memories, and our hearts.  We buy treasures, receive treasures as gifts, inherit treasures, and find treasures.  We pass those treasures to the next generation, but we need to include the stories associated with them.  Write and/or record the story and include who, what, where, when, why, how, and how much.  Keep the story with the heirloom or make a scrapbook or binder with the stories.  Photographs of the items should be placed with the story.  When you pass a treasured heirloom to the next generation, include a handwritten, typed, or recorded message.  The message may be as special as the heirloom.

When estates are divided among descendants, retain your memories of items that another family member receives by writing or recording your memories and photographing the items.  Share memories and photographs of items that you receive.  This will keep the memories of your loved ones alive for future generations.

Using these suggestions to record a family story, a few notes or a detailed story can be written about any genealogical subject.  This is an example of a story about a family heirloom.

Who – Hardy and Rachel Maness Haney
What – McCoy’s Aunt Jemima Cookie Jar

Where – Bemis, Madison County, TN
When – December 1945 after World War II

Why – Housekeeping/bridal shower
How – Gift from co-worker in cotton mill

How Much – Current value $125-$150

Robert Hardy Haney from Bemis and Rachel Louise Maness from Luray married in West Palm Beach, Florida, on October 28, 1943, while Hardy was serving in the US Coast Guard during World War II.  When he returned home from the war in December 1945, Rachel was given a housekeeping shower by her co-workers in the Bemis cotton mill.  One gift was a McCoy’s Aunt Jemima cookie jar.  Over the years, she baked many cookies and stored them in the cookie jar where her three children would grab Aunt Jemima’s head to lift the top and take some cookies.  In the late 1970s, she gave the cookie jar to her daughter Kathy since she worked for The Quaker Oats Company where they made Aunt Jemima frozen products.  The cookie jar is now stored safely in a cabinet with glass doors and will eventually be passed to the next generation.  An approximate monetary value is $125-$150.  However, the memories of fresh-baked cookies in a family heirloom are priceless.