How do I describe the culture of my ancestor's country in my profiles?

Question

Hello all,

 

I hope everyone is doing well. I am pretty good today, myself. Anyway, I just wanted to get some profile advice. I am starting to form the desire to really get my profiles cleaned up nicely with more than just the stated facts of their vital and census records. I am looking to add information for the movies, music, fashion, and other major aspects of the culture to the profiles to flesh out their lives but am not quite sure where to find this information or how exactly to add it into my profiles without forcing it.

 

If it helps my direct ancestors were born in the following countries/Regions: Germany, Ireland, Bohemia, Sicily, England, and of course, the United States.

Thank you for any advice you all can give me. Also, please ask questions if I didn't word it to the best understanding.

 

Mike

Answer 1

Hi Michael,

If you have details already like birth locations (town/village/county) I would start researching within the Wikitree projects. If you can't find what you want there then I would suggest googling the areas within the countries your ancestors were born/living. There are many great sites that people who are proud of their home town have written about. Wikipedia is also a great source of information.

When adding your information to the profile I would put it into a story form.

Something that you can incorporate the basic details already entered.

For example: [name] was born in [date] in the small village of [village name] to [father] and [mother]. At the time of his birth [child's name] father was a farmer. When he was old enough [child] would walk the fields with his father learning how to care for the land. He would also help tend to the farm livestock, helping to milk the cows. At the age of xx he fell in love with the sound of the flute. He saved his coins and bought a flute, teaching himself to play. It was whilst doing this he met and fell in love with a young lady named xx xx. They later married at xxx church.

For more recent relations most countries have festivals honouring famous people/religeous figures/special events in history. Again google is a good source for these events, which mainly would be held yearly.

Hope i understood your intentions correctly :)

 

Happy researching

Wendy

Answer 2

Hi Michael!

I have similar ancestry to you and I enjoy at least designating their ancestry on each profile as I go along and immigration flags if they apply. Here are some of my examples:

Italian ancestry:

Rina-2

German ancestry:

Tigges-32

Irish ancestry:

Cawl-2

 

I haven't gotten as detailed as you're mentioning, but I'm excited to see what other people say : )

Answer 3

Hi Mike!

When I was researching different branches of my family trees, I looked at the history of each area or country during the time that my relative lived there. Many countries have online historical information and Wikipedia is another great resource.

Case in point...One of my Irish relatives came to the U.S. as an Indentured Servant at a very young age. When I looked into the historical records of the town where she was born. I found out that before she left Ireland, a majority of her family and relatives had died within the time known as "The Great Irish Famine." Between 1845 and 1852 over one million men, women and children died and another million fled Ireland to live in other countries.

I used recorded eye-witness accounts that described the horrific truths of "life" during that time. Including information about the geopolitical insanity that changed a potato blight into a death sentence that destroyed families and an economy.