Do you want to make a book on your ancestors?

Question

Do you want to make a book about your ancestors? Or have you already created a book about them? Or are you in the middle of working on such a book?

I will be posting sources and reviewing them, for making your own family tree book to pass on to your relatives. Would you add any sources (with reviews if you have them)? Post tips for how to put a book together that will be of interest to others?  Add ideas for this project - what we could be doing?

I have thought for decades of making a book on the ancestors discovered in my research. With a landmark birthday approaching, now would be a good time to get started and make measurable progress.

Please post, answer, sign up for the project, or just comment - and let us know your good ideas on how to make a book on our ancestors!

Comments

Does anyone have suggestions about getting relatives interested?  My generation is now at 'senior level', I have sent invitations - they come and look once and never again.  Down a generation only a few come and look and don't come back.  And on to the generation in their 20's, none of them have come to look.

Maybe if we had a serial killer..............

Do you think a book would help, or would I just be wasting my time since no one seems to care?

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Kristina you may never know the one whose interest you will spark. If it hadn't been for a book published in 1942 it would have been really hard for me to trace my ancestry. Like so many others I regret not asking questions when I had the chance.

So, a book with documented sources, pictures and perhaps stories or interviews, well...a treasure chest for somebody in your family to open. Maybe not today or tomorrow, maybe 70 years from now, you may never know. If not us, who will pass on the legacy of our ancestors?

Would you be wasting your time? No. Besides, why else are you here on WikiTree?

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I like the general idea but for me I'm putting all that energy into improving the profiles on Wikitree of my relatives.  Printing (I find) is the main prohibitive factor due to the cost.  Also, when mistakes or new information is discovered it's not practical to reprint a publication.  I have a grand collection of what is considered the best English literature from the beginning until the 20th century, but I wish I didn't.  Over the years I've spent a fortune making cabinets, moving, dusting, cleaning and caring for all those books, most of which I'm the only one who has read them and likely ever will.  They now consume what should be a bedroom and turned into a library that hardly anyone ever sees or even shows much interest.  

But I do know, that anywhere in the world I find myself, I will be able to log-in to the Wikitree and show anyone that cares what information I have.  And that's the path I follow presently.

But don't get me wrong.  I still love books!

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Getting others interested is tricky.  I find writing something short and weird about an ancestor, and sending it out as an email, generates some interest and comments.

Examples - I wrote a one-page bio of an ancestor who was formally adopted in the 1870s.  Other family members who were adopted seemed to think that was cool.  My husband likes to tell people that my ancestor was killed by "the shot heard 'round the world" at the Lexington Alarm.  That is his take on my annual April 18th email as I try to memorize the poem Paul Revere's Ride.

And I am a book lover who has given up physical books.  Well, mostly. I think Vincent has the right idea to store your data online.  I have a website that no one uses, and I'm adding here.  You never know.

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Of course you all are right, and encouraging.  I am happy to keep up the work on WikiTree and maybe find cousins who share my interest.

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Thank you to Shirley Dalton for adding her Review of CreateSpace on the Free page for Creating Your Book of Ancestors.

We now have three publisher reviews, two book reviews, and two links to making a free migration map.
If you do not see a category for what you want to contribute to the page, make one or message me and I'll make it.

A tip on writing about your ancestors is that we need to have a specific audience in mind. We need to visualize exactly to whom we are telling the story of their lives. I tried this and found out it worked. I pictured my nieces and nephews, most of them ten and under, and wrote the stories and poems and put in pictures for them. It was a popular little notebook. This time I want to write to adults, and I agree it is hard to gain their attention.

I plan on making chapters of migrating groups - for example, the people who lived in Kent, near Canterbury, England in the late 1500's and early 1600's.  Their occupations are known from records at the time. A later generation left England, sailing to New Jersey where they joined a colony of Quakers about 1685. Migration maps can be made, descriptions of their lives in 1685 in New Jersey can be found. They are just one short chapter among other groups of ancestors who lived in England and moved to Colonial America. Many small chapters make a book. Add the family tree diagram to tie them all together.

What is your plan, or if you have finished a book, what is your most successful part of it?

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April

Yes to the book.  My story was finding a book in a used book store,  that only 200 were printed on the Dryer family.  It filled in a lot of gaps and pointed me to documents.  Another relative in Canada printed his book and helped in documents on one of my relatives.  You never know!!

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I like the book idea but I wonder about the printing costs?

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Rena,

What a wonderful find!

Do you have a plan for your book? the scope?

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Vincent,

I'm hoping people who have had recent experience or knowledge will answer these kinds of questions here.

My brief experience with My Canvas showed me that the number of pages and the size of the pages are related directly to the cost, the other variable is how many copies are printed at once.

For myself, I have decided it is better to print a smaller book of limited scope, that is affordable, and then another one, etc. than to try to put everything I have gathered in 25 years into one book.

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Going to send it to the Internet Archives to have it digitized so that all may read.

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Rena,

That will surely delight Dryer genealogists.

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WikiTree Forum has the answers!

Our own Forum has a marvelous discussion on how to create your own map of your ancestor's migration.

The link is added to the Free Space page on making your book of ancestors.

Answer 1

April if you like take a look at my profile.  I wrote a description on how to research in college.

Comments

Jacky,

I like your little labels on your profile, with a tartan, a map, etc.to click on. It is very charming, a nice way for visitors to see who were your ancestors. You have a great amount of information on your profile, thank you for sharing it.

Answer 2

The idea of 'making a book' is intimidating to most of us. Would it help to break down the process into manageable ideas that can be combined into making a book?

Should our book be organized like the traditional historical, genealogical books on families or places, chronologically, with vital statistics, and sketches of individuals.

It's easier to envision my ancestors by their location:  location in space - geography, and location in time - history. Together, geography and history contribute to how are ancestors lived. Is it easier to imagine the benefits of examining their place in history?  Their place in space - looking up their geography, can be rewarding too.

Re-examining my ancestor, Samuel Bacon, paying special attention to location, I found this snippet on Stretton, which is now on his profile:

::  As early as 1636 there was a suit brought against the lords of the manor, stating that 'out of covetousness and malignity,' since the beginning of Charles's reign, they had destroyed twelve ancient farms, with land that had been arable time out of mind, and depopulated them, thrusting out all the ancient tenantry and farmers, their wives, children and servants, enclosed the common ground and turned the farm lands from tillage to pasture. [from British History Online]

Samuel's biographer writes: ""There seem to be no records at Stretton for this family after 1636".

Now we have motivation and opportunity for my Bacon family to emigrate to New England.  What unsuspected jewels have you found by digging into place and time?

Samuel Bacon

Answer 3

Hi! April :

I have been through the process of writing, copywriting, publishing and printing a book. It is an exceptionally rewarding experience. There are however many, many, pitfalls. It is not for the faint of heart. The book has to have a broad base;  that is, not just your family line, but encompassing a larger group or target market; e.g.,[ The New York Churchills.] The best place to start is with a good genealogical data base program that will actually produce the book for you. I use FTM 10 but perhaps other genealogical programs have this option as well. If you are lucky, and have a product that a target market would be receptive to, you can make a  $12. per unit profit, with a run as small as 100 units. I would be pleased to assist in anyone that has any questions.

Regards: George Churchill

Comments

George -

Your reply is very encouraging. Thank you!  Congratulations on your book - I didn't even suspect it is possible to profit also.

I don't think I have a database that would appeal to a broad base. My goal is to produce a book that will be interesting enough for my descendants to read - at least some of them might:)

But many of the pitfalls are probably the same, and your offer is appreciated - you will hear from me when I get further along.

My focus is on migrating Colonial ancestors - what motivated them to move, how they lived.