|
The Family History Compass
4/7/2003 - Archive
Creating a Biographical Sketch, Part 2
Last week, we talked a little about how we can take the information
we have located on a particular ancestor or family and work it into an interesting
biographical sketch.
This week we'll continue with a few other ideas:
Family Tradition
Every family has its stories that can truly add interest to a biographical sketch.
The trick is to separate fact from fiction. Too often, these family legends
contain misinformation—sometimes unintentionally when facts get confused or
memories get hazy, sometimes intentionally when a family member "enhances"
the story or downright lies, possibly to cover some indiscretion or family secret.
Michael John Neill's article from 27 March 2003, "Analyzing Before Life
and After Death Experiences?" discusses some things to look for when analyzing
family stories.
What Did They Look Like?
We've all heard the expression that a picture is worth a thousand words. Those
of us who have images of our ancestors available value this even more—putting
a face to the name can make a biographical sketch more personal. It can also
be used to create a verbal physical description to include. Clothing, backgrounds,
and expressions can also give us a deeper insight into personalities.
Until recently, I didn't have a photograph of a particular ancestor. However,
his obituary in the newspaper included a drawing of him, which I've saved for
the family history. In other cases where no image is available at all, records
may contain a physical description. Such records include naturalization records,
military records, or coroner's records.
Maps
Since I was a kid I've had a fascination with maps. My dad taught me how to
read them when we went on vacation and I would follow along as we drove trying
to pinpoint exactly where we were. That interest has carried over into my family
history so that I am constantly plotting my ancestors' addresses on historical
maps. The problem was that I would always forget where the various families
or individuals lived over the years.
To solve this problem, I scanned in several period maps and used image-editing
software. I have inserted labels into the map. (I used Microsoft® Paint
which came with Windows XP Professional, but most other image editing software
can do the same.) Opening the scanned map image, I select "Text" and
type in the labels at the various addresses I have located in records. For example,
one text box might read, "James Kelly, 155 Huntington St., 1880 Census-1890
Brooklyn City Directory." Using the paintbrush, I can draw arrows from
the text box to the exact location, or from one location to another tracing
their moves through the years. Using different colors, I can differentiate between
various family members or years. This creates a visual way to trace my ancestors'
movements and adds another dimension to biographical sketches.
Local and Social History
Interesting tidbits can also be found in local and social histories. I have
several ancestors in Brooklyn who were in the milk business and I found the
following excerpt from Henry R. Stiles' A History of the City of Brooklyn
regarding their profession very interesting:
"On the west, or river side of the road [later became Furman street], we
notice next beyond Jonathan Thompson's stores, at about the foot of the present
Orange street, a dock (Map B, 29) known as the Milkmen's dock. Here, every morning,
'rain or shine,' came the vendors of 'lacteal fluid,' stabled their horses in
a row of sheds erected for the purpose, under the shelter of the Heights; and,
clubbing together in the hire of boats, were rowed with their milk-cans over
to New York, encountering, not infrequently, during the severe winter months,
much suffering and even serious danger from fierce winds, and floating ice.
Their cans were suspended from yokes across their shoulders, and thus accoutered
they peddled off their milk in the city and returned in the afternoon, wind
and weather permitting, to the Brooklyn side where they 'hitched up' their teams
and started for their homes."
In The Immigrant Church: New York's Irish and German Catholics, 1815-1865,
by Jay P. Dolan, I learned that, "The traditional moving day in New York
was May 1. It was a day when the entire city 'turned topsy-turvy, thousands
of persons being in the act of removal, the streets filled with carts laden
with furniture, porters, servants, children, all carrying their respective movables'
to a new address. (79) Newspapers carried announcements of doctors, lawyers,
priests, and tailors who changed their residence or place of business almost
annually. John DuBois, bishop of New York from 1826 to 1842, said that every
year 'at the first of May half of the inhabitants of the city moved from one
corner of the city to another.'" (80)
Items such as these can help paint a picture that takes you back in time and
allows you and your readers to imagine what it was like for your ancestors,
and makes the sketch much more interesting. Just be careful to observe all applicable
copyright laws.
Sources
As with any genealogical work, it's important to note where your information
is coming from so that others (or you yourself) will be able to go back and
retrace your steps. Although the sources may seem clear as you are writing the
sketch, if you don't make note of them, trust me, a few weeks from now you'll
be kicking yourself, trying to figure out where it came from. Save yourself
the bruises and lots of time, by noting them as you go along. With today's word
processors, it is easy to do this. In Microsoft Word, when you finish the text
you want to footnote, just click on "Insert" and "Footnote"
and it will insert the number and take you down to the bottom of the page where
you can type in your source. For more on source documentation, see George Morgan's
"Citation Corner" articles.
Why Go To All This Trouble?
To create a sketch of an ancestor, you have to look closely at the information
you have gathered. This close scrutiny often opens new doors for further research.
I've found that it also helps to cement the information I've found on the subject
into my brain in a way that no charts and forms can. The biographical sketches
you create can also serve as a building point for your published family history.
In addition, it is a great way to generate interest among other family members.
When you thrust a pedigree chart in front of them, they start looking for the
exits, but when you hand them a story—the story of your ancestor—you are handing
them an heirloom that they will treasure forever.
Sources
Stiles, Henry R. A History of the City of Brooklyn (Brooklyn, NY: Published
by Subscription, 1869)
(Images of this article are available to Ancestry.com subscribers here.
)
Dolan, Jay P. The Immigrant Church: New York's Irish and German Catholics,
1815-1865. (University of Notre Dame Press, 1983)
[Footnotes 79 & 80 in the excerpt were from: Still, Bayrd. Mirror for
Gotham: New York As Seen by Contemporaries from Dutch Days to the Present
(New York: New York University Press, 1956.)]
Juliana Smith is the editor of the Ancestry Daily News and author
of The Ancestry Family Historian's Address Book. She has written for
Ancestry Magazine and Genealogical Computing. Juliana can be reached
by e-mail at: ADNeditor@ancestry.com,
but regrets that she is unable to assist with personal research.
|
