Tips for Interviewing Relatives About Your Family History

Your first family history goldmine is often a close relative. You may never have thought of asking members of your family about their lives or what they remember of the generations that came before them. Few of us have, in any depth.For many people, the opportunity to ask these questions has passed and they will never have the chance again. Now is the time to make chatting with your family a priority. Talking to your relatives should be a priority when doing genealogical research.

Your great-grandmother may no longer be alive, but you may have parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, all of whom can be good sources of information about recent generations of your family. They can provide names, dates, locations, photographs, diaries and gossip. They may also be able to suggest other people to whom you could talk, who may have known your departed relatives. They may even have originals or copies of documents that would be a great addition to your genealogical file. Think about how helpful this information could be.

I strongly recommend that you conduct interviews with your family in person. Some people could be put off by receiving an impersonal questionnaire in their mailbox or inbox. The information your relatives have could be very personal, evocative, and very closely guarded. You’re probably going to learn a lot more by conducting these interviews face to face and showing a real interest in what they are saying and reassuring them that your intentions are honorable.

Always remain discreet, and never misuse any information you gather. The material you gather from these interviews relates to living people or people within living memory. In order to encourage your relatives to discuss what they know with you, reassure them that you won’t disclose any of the information to other family members, especially if it’s of a sensitive nature. Be sure they understand that you consider any data to be important to your family’s history. The information your relatives have is part of a lifetime of special memories and you need to treat it with total respect.

When your relatives are comfortable with your motives, they may provide all kinds of detail that you never dreamed they knew. Your genuine interest might just spark more memories or lead to unexpected revelations.  Always leave lots of time for these interviews. After all who knows how long Aunty Doris will talk for when you get her going?

In addition to these interviews, you can also gather information at Mundia.com  This is a free family history website that allows you to collaborate with your family members to make your family tree online.  Anybody that wants to learn more about their family history should check out this website.