Finally I am formatting the book I hope to write. Although I will provide documentation, I will abandon the well known version of formatted genealogy with lineages and dates. I intend on taking my gathered facts and research and instead write them out narratively.
Instead of sharing my enthusiasm, I have watched non-researchers stare blankly at gathered lineages. I have watched vacant stares trying desparately to connect to documents and files. I have come to face the truth. Unless you are a researcher, amatuer or not, the information falls on blind eyes and therefore, there is no way for the information to pass generation to generation. No one embraces it, and if they can’t embrace it, they won’t pass it on with enthusiasm.
What does pass through hands are stories and interesting tidbits of information. I am making this my platform. Armed with too many papers and documents. I plan to assemble the book my Grandmothers hoped that I would write.
So tonight I finally figured out a format. The book will be a history of me. It will be divided into parts, each stemming from one of my four grandparents;maternal grandmother’s line, paternal grandmother’s line,maternal grandfather’s line and paternal grandfather’s line.
I will tell the story of each history that lead me to my grandparent. I will write the story of the settlers, their where and who and what they did and the towns where they lived. It’s conclusion is how it all leads to each of my Grandparents.
I plan to self publish. I hope it is easy to read enough that the future generations will embrace its information. I can end the book with a chapter filled with documents and sources. I can add a page of addresses of homesites, statues and important documents.There can also be a chapter in the end with photographs of each grandparent and their home.But I am confident that it will be the narratives that will stay with each reader.
I feel better now in that I have a defined plan. I feel better that I have written the framework of chapter heads and the index page. As I writer, I feel it’s so much easier to concentrate and enjoy the writing, once I have the frame in place. I have a beginning. I love beginnings. They are filled with hope and enthusiasm.
I do hope you write the book. Sometimes you have to wait for the next generation to carry the torch if your children are not interested. Oftentimes, the death of a parent spurs the child to seek his/her roots, so the hope is still alive. Whatever you can establish may lead them to prove or disprove the theories you may have. I wish you full sails and fair winds.