Personal History and the Family Newsletter: Difference between revisions

''Heirlooms we don’t have in our family. But stories we got.'' (Rose Cherin)  

Start a family newsletter. Have each member of the family, father, mother and children write something, each month, about what they are doing. <br><br>Start this even thought some of your children may not be old enough to write yet. Write down for them what they are doing, how they are growing, what they are saying, and how they are progressing emotionally and spiritually. <br><br>

Anyway, as you can imagine, your family newsletter will become the perfect source for updating your own personal history as well as being perhaps the only source your children have to their past.<br><br>

Now, you can have a family newsletter among your brothers and sisters who may be all grown up and have their own families. Its one matter for parents to stay in contact with each of their children, but its another for brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews and nieces, second cousins, etc. to stay in contact with each other. Sometimes the only contact is at family reunions. <br><br>

If you are not really close to these family members because of distance, it is only natural that some closeness is lost. And, as a result, you may not know all that is happening in these families. Family newsletter fills that void quite nicely.<br><br>

Phone calls are sometimes used as a excuse for not putting together a family newsletter. The parties can obviously talk about more things and get instant answers to questions. In addition, people can just laugh with one another. This is good, so then why a family newsletter if we have a the telephone?<br><br>

First of all, phone conversations are quickly forgotten. If someone asked about the conversation you just had, you will leave out most of what was said and how it was said. The only way you could share what the call consisted of was to play a recording. Not everyone has a “bug” on their phones.<br><br>

And as I’ve said above, what we are doing is creating a family history as we go. We are leaving a record of our lives that can be read and reread not only by your family and other immediate family members, but by your descendants as well. This can not be done with phone calls.  

A fourth great grand child of yours, for example, will be able to become acquainted with you or your child who is his third great grand parent in no better way. If any of you have a journal of an ancestor, you know first hand how valuable your newsletter will be to your descendents. Your ancestor left you something for you to know him, you should do the same for your descendents!  

Family Newsletters can take on many forms. They can very from the simple handwritten letter with news from family member gathered by mom to elaborate creations done on a computer with scanned in photographs.<br><br>

If you think you could not get a letter once a month from family members, you may have to choose one person to call around and get the information for the newsletter. This can be very time consuming and does require a family member who’s willing to do such a thing.  

An important step in the creation of a family newsletter is what to name it. Get input from family members on this. This name will be referred to for years to come. You’ll often refer to stories from family members in past editions.<br><br>

While you’re at it, why don’t you try to come with a symbol, like a family crest or coat-of-arms to put next to the name of the newsletter It can become a family symbol to put on T-shirts and a cultural icon that will live forever.  

You can increase the scope of your family newsletter to include related subjects such as genealogy, personal histories of ancestors, etc. You can assign members of the family to make reports on history of areas where your ancestors came from. New genealogical discoveries can be shared.<br><br>

In addition, a family newsletter can be a teaching tool. Here parents can still teach their children even if they are not living at home. Ideas and thoughts can be shared. Good books read can be recommended and assays written on a subject that is close to the family member hearts.<br><br>

*Personality profiles of various family members  

*Reports of vacations

Another outlet for your newsletter is to create your own web site, blog or facebook site on the Internet. This allows family members to contribute by posting their own letters to your family’s web page.<br><br>

You can archive all this and view it whenever you want. Again how much will this history be valued by future generations. Think about it.