Your relative, when providing you with oral family history information, may easily get events in the wrong order. The details they remember, with the exception of the order in which they happened, may be perfectly correct.
The order in which things happened usually does matter, but it can be easily for someone to confuse the order of events. If two events are completely unrelated to each other, it can be even easier to confuse the order in which they happened.
When talking to a relative, focus on what they can remember. If the order in which things happens seems a little wonky, concentrate on getting as much information as you can from the person and recording their rendition as accurately as you can. Places, names, and relationships are important as well. You may find it helpful to ask if something took place:
- before a major historical event (war, flood, and so on)
- before a family event (death, marriage, divorce, or birth of a relative, etc.)
- during another time period (president was in office, child still living at home, or so on)
Helping the person to put the event in larger context may help narrow down a time frame. It may also help them to remember additional details. But don’t pressure the person or try to force them to remember. Keep the discussion as conversational as possible. It is not an inquisition.
Then when you analyze the oral history you can start looking at the specific ordering of events.
3 Responses
True! My dear aunt started almost every story with, “when I was about 9”. I took the stories then did some other research & found her stories to be pretty accurate but her age ranged from 6 to about 11. (guess you could still say about 9)
When you sent this out as an email, it is titled “Raw Mailable.” What on earth does that mean?
It means that I forgot to put the title on before the email was sent for those of you who get the tip in an email.