There was a time, when I knew all of my nieces and nephews, their dates and places of birth, and the correct spelling of their middle names. Now we are into another two generations, and I have lost track! Seriously lost track! I have no idea how large some of these new families are. I was good ‘til we got up over 100 people, then I got busy with my own little family and my own grandchildren. Now I will have to beg and plead, and double-check to make sure I get all the information I have missed.
It’s kind of shameful to admit how badly I have lapsed and I share this only to help others with the same problem. I have not been insistent enough with my brothers and sisters, making sure they collected their own nuclear family’s information for me. Now it’s way out of hand. I’m sure you have the same problem, the information gets relayed in the middle of an event or conversation; and never makes it into your family history files. We all have the very best intentions. I intended to remember these facts. (hahahaha) I intended to write down the next generation as it was born, also laughable. Let me paraphrase that my “path of good intentions is very well-paved.”
So now I have to remedy the situation, and here is my action plan. I am going to print up a family group sheet for each individual family (I at least know who in that third generation has produced a fourth generation, so that will help.) For most of those I will have to call their parents to get addresses. I will print several copies of a letter reminding them who I am and how we are related (this losing-track business is a two-way street, after all, they have not contacted me either) I will then ask them to fill in the names, dates, and places for every child and relationship they have, and make corrections as needed. I will have to create some sort of correspondence log to keep track of who replied and who has not, and who needs follow-up. Then I will start with follow-up calls.
I know most people in my family will “plan” to get this done for me. But it’s not the kind of thing anyone is excited to do, so most will need some gentle persuasion and a lot of reminders. It is hard for me to remember sometimes that many people do not care if they are recorded for posterity, and they do not care if we can’t get birth certificates for 100 years. So it will be my job to find a way to make it important enough that they will get it done. I know that most of it was done by phone when I cleaned up the second generation’s information, so I expect I will be doing a great deal of calling, texting and Facebooking.
I am not looking forward to the hassles, but I am looking forward to making those family connections strong again. Good luck with yours, too!
Columnist Nina Brawn of Dover-Foxcroft is a longtime genealogy researcher, speaker and teacher. Reader e-mails are welcome at ninabrawn@gmail.com. Her semimonthly column is sponsored by the Aroostook County Genealogical Society which meets the fourth Monday of the month except in July and December at Cary Medical Center’s Chan Education Center at 6:30 p.m. Guests are always welcome. FMI contact Edwin “J” Bullard at 492-5501.
