Building your family tree… Making it interesting...

I have to say I am fascinated by the duality of family history research. On the one hand, in order for it to be accurate and complete we need to work hard at finding all available records, we need to analyze those records (which involves reconciling contradictory information, duplicate names, missing records, etc.) and record them with footnotes. Lots of nitty-gritty! It can be grueling, especially when research involves common surnames and repeated first names. On the other hand, our final product should be something which is engaging and readable. If we aren’t successful with the latter, quite simply, no one will read it!

When I’m researching a family tree I like to wear both of those hats - the researcher hat and the story-teller hat. I often remind myself that both are equally important.

This makes me think about a picture book I used to read with all of my children. It was geared towards all ages- the artwork was simple enough for the younger ones to enjoy but within the book were pop up mini books, filled with details, for the older children (and parents lol). I have this concept in mind when I’m working on my family history projects.

My word of advice - keep wearing both hats!