When creating that ancestral chronology, don’t just look at the events in one person’s life. Also include key events in the lives of those close relatives of your ancestor. Births of children and grandchildren may have impacted your ancestor as well as deaths of parents, grandparents, and other close family members. The marriage (or divorce) of a child may have had an impact on your ancestor. Don’t add births and deaths of fifth cousins with whom your ancestor never interacted and think about the reasonableness of the event somehow making a difference in your ancestor’s life. Adding too many events, particularly ones that your ancestor may given only a pass thought to, may clutter up the chronology to the point of making it useless.
I reused a tea bag yesterday. As I started to drink the resulting cup of tea, I realized something. I had become my Grandma Neill. Well not literally and not even figuratively. But in one small aspect I was. And it got me thinking…what a great writing or memory prompt: “What’s one behavior, that if you do it, is quintessentially representative of a certain relative? Or what’s a behavior, that when you do it, reminders you of a specific family member?” For my Mom…it’s when I roll my eyes when someone says something I don’t really approve of, but it’s probably best to keep my mouth shut. I’ll have to think about the others. This may be a good situation where I need to have a notebook or […]
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