If you see the holidays as a time to visit or gather with family, it's the best time for collecting family stories, through interviewing or at least recording conversations with family members.
How I wish I had known to do this when I was very young and still had grandparents who were alive.
It took years of genealogy research to even know what questions I should have been asking.
These questions are to spark conversations. There might be whole conversations on any of these topics.
Here are some questions YOU might ask your grandparents.
1) When you were a child, were your birthday's celebrated?
2) How many brothers or sisters did you have? What were their names and name them from oldest to youngest?
3) Was there a brother or sister you felt especially close to? Why?
4) How did you learn to cook? Was the food you learned to cook from a particular culture?
5) Was there a favorite recipe or meal that your mother or father made that you liked when you were growing up.
6) What did your mother or father do to make money? Did they talk to their children about their finances?
7) As a child did you have a sense that you were rich or poor? How old were you when you had this realization?
8) Were your parents religious? What church did they go to? Did you attend church as a family? Were there religious differences p0layed out in your home?
9) What school(s) did you go to? What was your favorite subject(s)?
10) Did you have a favorite teacher or coach? Why did you like them?
11) Did you have any nicknames as a child? Did you like that name?
12) Did you work as a child? For money? (Did you babysit, deliver newspapers, or mow lawns for cash, for instance?)
13) What languages did your grandparents speak? Were you raised speaking more than one language? Did you go to school in a certain language?
14) What games did you play with other children or alone as a child?
15) Did you like to read as a child? What subjects did you like to read about? Did you have favorite books or magazines?
16) What games, if any, that were physical did you play as a child, on the school yard, or in the backyard or neighborhood? (Did you play softball, kickball, tag, tennis, badminston, cricket, or some other game?)
17) Who was your best friend growing up? Tell me about that person.
Asking your GRANDPARENTS questions about their childhood and upbringing may help you get a feel for the values and personalities of these people who are your GREAT GRANDPARENTS. Today people are living much longer lifespans in general and more people are having the great-grandparent experience. But many of us never get to meet them.
If your grandparents have moved on, ask your parents what they remember about their parents. Sometimes the questions you ask spark the memories.
C Ancestry Worship Genealogy 2021
