How to Decide on the Best Approach for Writing Your Family's History
There are three main styles for family history writing. Here are the benefits and drawbacks of each, so you can pick your approach with confidence.
If you are just starting to write about your ancestors, you are probably wondering which approach to use.
Most genealogists choose a scholarly approach with a focus on biographical details, such as birth, marriage, occupation, and death. A second method of family history writing is to focus on the journey of genealogical research and sharing discoveries as you go. The third new approach to start writing family history is through highlighting the big moments in ancestors’ lives through chronicles.
Here is more about each way to write family history to help you decide which method to pick for yourself.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F959f0937-aef8-42e7-8063-bd03500233e5_1024x1024.heic)
Option 1: Make your ancestors central with a biographical approach
The first option with family history writing is to focus on your ancestors using a biographical style. This is the most common approach for family history.
Each piece of writing, whether its a book chapter or blog post, is centered on one person and the events in his or her life. This person is the central character and her or she drives the action. The telling of the story is done in a third-person point of view, standing outside the action and looking in.
The emphasis in this approach is on words, both stating facts and providing descriptions. Few images are included.
You leave yourself, and any other living relatives, out of the story completely, and provide no opinions about the people or events. Usually controversial events are avoided or just touched on lightly, so it stays unemotional and distant from the author.
Here’s what it looks like in a paragraph:
“John Martin lived with his wife Sally, and children Jacob, age 9; Sarah, age 7; and Israel, age 4 in 1930. They called the industrial city of Reading their home. John worked as a manager at Godiva Chocolate, one of the largest employers in the city.”
The subject of each of these sentences was John (or his family), and the verbs used showed actions John took. The events described read like biography or obituary, covering major life events.
Benefits of making ancestors central
No permission needed from your family on what you are writing about, because no living family is included.
Follows genealogy standards to protect the identities of living people.
Sticks to the assumption that family history should cover the basics of each person - birth, marriage, occupation, death - and not get into the messy stuff.
Downsides of making ancestors central:
You and your fellow living family become a “lost” generation in a few decades with little recorded about you.
Future researchers have no idea who the person was that wrote the family history (and they will probably want to know!).
The most meaningful part of genealogy research is what the discoveries mean to you, and leaving them out means they only live on in your memories.
Option 2: Write a personal narrative of your genealogy research
Personal narrative is the telling of a story from first person perspective, meaning the point-of-view of the writer.
While some in the genealogy community have a negative view of this writing approach, personal narratives flow naturally for many family historians. Genealogy research is full of twists and turns and unexpected finds, and sharing each one is satisfying. No step in the research process is lost, because the writing is completed and shared frequently.
Personal narrative style is similar to this:
“I searched the 1930 census and found John Martin, but the last name was mis-spelled Marten so I wasn’t sure it was him. I checked the family members against the 1940 census and they appear to be the right names and ages to make a match. Once I had this census, then I went and searched for the 1920 census. I couldn’t seem to find it and tried several different websites. The census taker must have skipped their household.”
What makes personal narrative distinctive is that sentences often begin with ‘I’, and the writer himself or herself is the focus of the action.
Benefits of personal narrative:
Your family and friends can enjoy the process of discovery with you and appreciate the research effort.
The writing is done is your voice and readers get to know you, both now and in the future.
You can take the research in any direction you wish and follow your interests. Whatever you want to pursue can be a focus with no pressure to cover every year and every person equally.
Downsides of personal narrative:
It does not follow genealogy standards, so professionals will frown at it.
When record sources are not cited or listed, the family history can feel like fiction.
Readers can get lost in the story and have to dig for key details such as dates and locations for use in family trees.
Option 3: Write ancestor chronicles and your reactions
The chronicles approach to family history combines the best of the biographical and the personal narrative approaches.
The chronicle writing style puts images alongside short bits of writing, often less than 300 words. Both the image and writing focus on a moment-in-time in an ancestor’s life, sharing what makes the event special. At the end of the chronicle, the writer ties it to his or her life and shares a reaction to that event.
This approach of writing plus images works whether the research was completed long ago or is still in process of being completed.
Family historians use the chronicle approach for both ordinary and extreme situations they uncover. To state only the facts of past events in a biography style feels too cold, and to state them as personal narrative feels too emotional. By writing a chronicle showing both the facts and the events impact, a balance is met.
Benefits of chronicle writing:
Combines the best of the biographical approach and the personal narrative
Uses images for each event which help draw readers into the family history
Keeps the author of the family history in their own family history
Downsides of chronicle writing:
Works best when research is completed for a generation and written into a research log. Allows you to see themes or interesting items to write about.
Requires the writer to both step back from the research and be in the details of the research at the same time. Can be hard to do.
Can take time to find, cite, and customize images for each event.
Whatever approach you choose for writing your family history, the important thing is to write and share it with your family as you go.
It’s good to have a flexible approach and try out different styles.
Some excellent advice on different writing styles. I have previously stuck to the traditional biographical method myself but this does give food for thought of using a different approach.