It is always good to interview as many relatives as possible about the same person or event. Each will remember slightly different things based on their own perspective and life experiences. That’s entirely natural. Humans are not virtual tape recorders no matter how “good” one may think their memory is.

They may also have been told different stories about long-deceased relatives or remember details that resonate with them for one reason or another. Long-dead Aunt Myrtle may have liked one cousin better than another and shared more stories with one as a result.

The reasons are not so important as the reality: talk to as many as you can, even if they think “I don’t know nuthin’ you ain’t already heard.”

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  1. When I was interviewing my mother-in-law and her sister for the Nilsen family book I was working on, I would get a kick out of how these two women saw things differently. Of course, they were 7 years apart in age. It’s good to remember how old they were when an event happened and where they were living–near the family they’re speaking about, or away and it is more hearsay they are repeating.

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