BIOGRAPHY and THE WRITING OF YOUR FAMILY HISTORY : HERE'S AN INSPIRING EXAMPLE

I was attracted to this book at the library, England's Mistress - the Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton, by Kate Williams, because of its lovely cover. I've read many biographies and memoirs. This impressive one is about a person born in poverty, the lowest of the low, who managed to make it through the ridged English class system and become the wife of Sir William Hamilton. Born Amy Lyon, this woman went from being an orphan to working as a child laborer, from prostitute to mistress to wife. She also became an actress and singer, and was imitated as a force in fashion back in the day. She became the personal friend of a Queen or two. She was exceptional by beauty but also seized every opportunity to educate and improve herself. I think it's one of the most wonderfully written biographies I've encountered. But why?  Because the research and writing brought forth the realities of life in England - as well as Naples (Italy) - in the late1800's.

I present it here because I want to remind my readers to seek out biographies of their ancestors. They probably do not have whole books written about them hundreds of years after their deaths. However, you may find that a person is included in a local biography, a town book (like a yearbook created by a proud town about their pioneers and citizens), newspaper articles, and such. There are still many books on library shelves that have not been digitalized - not scooped up by the big names in genealogy databases.

But also, in writing your family history, in putting a person in their life timeline, you may want to also explain their times - the history of the place they lived - and what it was perhaps like for your ancestor to live in them. 

You of course quote and attribute the passages you use in your work.

Here are some excerpt examples from the book that are excellent.

From page 5, year 1764, in a small village just outside Chester across the Dee River.

Emma's parents were married on June 11, 1764, in Great Neston church. As the wedding was held on a Monday, it is unlikely that any relative...attended.  Like many workingmen, Henry was illiterate and signed the register with an X, Mary also signed with a cross....  First babies were often conceived outside of wedlock; indeed, many communities encouraged it to preclude the disaster or marriage to an infertile wife. .... At twenty-one, Mary was a drudge in a dirty hovel, her day consumed by domestic chores, in a village populated by people who were, in the 1850's according to visitors, "as primitive as their village was secluded."  At four she awoke to fetch water, light the fire, and prepare Henry's breakfast... After he left at five, she began her daily battle against the dirt that silted up the windows and covered every surface with a grimy film. (Coal dust) Outside her window lay a treeless expanse of  scrub scarred by heaps of coal waste, and cheap stone cottages blacked by sooty rain. She knew that soon after she gave birth, she would be expected to work in the mine with the other women.

WHAT DAY OF THE WEEK WAS THE MARRIAGE OF YOUR ANCESTOR HELD? WHAT MONTH? 

Excerpt page 6 : Emma was baptized on May 12. On the register, her name looks like 'Emy" but Emma herself always claimed it was Amy. a common name in the Kidd family. ... One in three children like Emma died within infancy, but she was born in the best season for survival; disease was more virulent from June to September, and babies died of cold from November to February. There was hard work ahead for the infants who lived. Denhall employed most children over nine or ten as cheap labor. All the girls born in Ness were, by the age of ten, pulling baskets to the surface every day, covered in dirt and regularly harassed by the men.  At the end of the day, they returned home to cook and clean for their family or, as was near as likely, since many women died in childbirth, stepmother.

WAS YOUR ANCESTOR EMPLOYED IN COAL MINING?  A CHILD LABORER? 

Excerpts such as these, when appropriate, add color to your family history book, but also give the reader an opportunity for understanding.

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THINGS THAT CAN BE USEFUL TO GENEALOGY THAT ARE NOT EXACTLY DOCUMENTS

The following list of things that can be useful are not exactly genealogy documents though they can be found in archives, attics, and shoe boxes in closets.

1) Family Bible.  Inscriptions in handwriting of births and deaths in the family helpful to locating other documents or verifying oral histories.  Helpful also if  person who did handwriting can be verified. Be aware in the past PENMANSHIP was key, not handwriting.  What's the difference?  Penmanship emphasized neatness, readability, and conformity of lettering and slant, often practiced.  It wasn't as individualistic as handwriting.

2) Report Cards.  Can verify schools and imply person's age and location.  (But a private boarding school would attract students from many places, so affordability is implied.) 

3) Funeral Home Prayer Cards:  Helps verify age, date of birth and death, implies religion of person or family,  may mention funeral home name, church, or cemetery; just be aware that like business cards people can pay to have anything printed.

4) Diplomas and certificates of classes and education.  (Caution due to ease of printing or calligraphic.)

5)  Letters:  Oh how we love to read old letters, note the stamps (how inexpensive postage was), wax seals, choice of stationary, handwriting, and so on. All this now replaced by texting, email, chats, social networking. You may already know what is expressed but save them for future generations. Be aware that person writing may not be honest or simply be ignorant or wrong.  (A letter sent to me by an old relative got me started on a line of genealogy and proved to have both wonderful leads and horrible errors.)  Identify the writer and who they were to the receiver.

6) Newspaper articles.  It helps if they actually spelled the names right.  If the surnames are common, be sure the people mentioned in the article are the family you're trying to locate.

7) Town Books.  Something like a yearbook with photos and stories, usually printed with contributions and with local pride.  (One provided black and white photos of a client's grandparents and great-grandparents never seen before.)  Surprisingly found at times in big city library collections far away from origins.  Just judge that pride may have resulted in the printing of some untruths, which makes them a lot like yearbooks.)

8) Yearbooks:  How do you really know someone graduated just because they showed up for the yearbook picture in their junior year?  (Some of us wish we had not shown up, since the copyright of yearbooks is rarely renewed and yearbooks have become exploited by certain web sites. I cringe.) I caught hell from someone because I found their yearbook photo on Ancestry genealogy database and that implied their age.  The person actually had been in a hospital for polio and lost 2 years of school and was 20 when they graduated.)

9) Shower and Wedding invitations are also helpful but don't prove the wedding took place or was legal.

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