Don't bore their socks off

In response to a post from Carmel Reynen on Facebook recently.  Lisa Vassallo in a comment said "I would like to know what people are doing to keep it all going." The conversation was all about our family history research and passing it on. 

My lengthy response was along these lines (I have edited and formatted it since I posted on Facebook).

A favourite picture of my Mum

Interest waxes and wanes. With 16 descendants I hope someone inherits the geneabug. My children all follow my blog and are most interested when I share an ancestor story. 

I let grandchildren enter data into my family history program (after I have backed it up) and I let them search it. They love looking for people with their own forenames or funny names, those that share a birthday or seeing how many people come from a certain town, country or village. 

The kids have enjoyed looking at my family website and creating the ancestor and descendant charts available there. 

Two of my children and two of my teen grandchildren have done DNA tests. They enjoy hearing about the results after I have done the hard slog of working out the matches.. 

Ancestor and old photos are another turn on, I have them all digitised and sit at computer with kids and go through them. I find anything we can do together at a screen piques their interest. 

Clock made by an ancestor

We have obtained three grandfather clocks made by an ancestor. These are each in a family home and are a constant reminder of the kids' heritage. 


We willingly lend precious artefacts to grandchildren to take to Show and Tell at school (it's always a relief when the items are returned). 

Stories of our 10 naughty convict and other black sheep ancestors give them a giggle. They are also impressed by the few famous cousins in our tree.

Sharing family snippets from Trove gets a  response. 

I try not to bore the socks off family members but to create an environment that provides opportunities for them to learn about their heritage.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink!

Memory joggers

Have you kept any old certificates?

Sadly my Mum didn't keep many of the few certificates I got when I was growing up so I haven't got those mementos that are also great memory joggers for events that were significant in my life.

I tried to keep all sorts of stuff relating to my children's journey through childhood and adolescence so that there is some sort of record of the milestones in their lives. Now I never seem to throw anything out although I am starting to scan and discard some things like tickets and programs.

But I keep and treasure the certificates I get from various events. I will treasure the latest addition to my collection, a Certificate of Appreciation from The Central Coast Family History Society that I was given after presenting a session to them on the weekend. The certificate has been scanned and the original placed in my genealogy folder.

Data Lost - Drat

I am so annoyed with myself because I have lost the notes I took at yesterday's Hawkesbury Family History Group Meeting and it was a cracker of a meeting. Therefore I  cannot give a decent report of the meeting.

I took my notes on GDocs Notes on my tablet computer and was unable to sync them to Google Docs because reception from my carrier, Telstra, is so poor in the meeting room. I think at some stage I must have inadvertently deleted my text. Luckily I  had taken some photos of the items that members have brought along for the "Show and Tell" session at the meeting.

Each short presentation was unique and interesting, I congratulate everyone who shared an artefact and its story with us. I found this meeting so much more interesting than I sometimes find those with just one guest speaker. The articles shown included a medal for clog walking, certificates for Sunday school examinations, a metal hook from the fireplace of a house now demolished, a family Bible, family photos, a pharmacist's metal engraved plate, several books and some original indenture papers from the 19th century.

I am always banging on about speakers needing to have passion and each of these speakers yesterday did because most of the items they spoke about related to their own family histories and meant so much to them. I was so impressed with the amount of research that had been done to find the stories behind the artefacts.

It was my first time as a "Show and Tell" girl, I can't wait for next year's meeting. Now that I have a better idea of what to do I will be better prepared.

Should your society be thinking of having a "Show and Tell" session go for it.

19th Century Medal for Clog Walking in Scotland



Folder for 20th Century Sunday School Examination Certificates

Original Jurd Family Indenture from 19th century