Have you written your own family chronicles? Do you have some old chronicles, bibles, letters which are held in you family as a treasure? There almost always is some kind of written treasure in every family...
I've written tens of family histories for my customers. Some of these histories were short, some were long, some were just in the middle. Usually these family histories have about 15-25 pages and contain information about the surname, places of origin of the family and then family history itself.
I haven't written such family history for my own family yet. There is a saying in Czech "Blacksmith horse walks barefooted" - and it really fits to my case. I have some family histories on my private website, but nothing printed out.
But writing the family histories always brings me something new. I get to know places I've never been to (or getting to know better those places I have visited in the past), I find something new about the crafts, buildings or tools used by our ancestors. I discover new websites which contain information I can use some other time.
And of course I find something new about the family itself. Who they were? Where did they die? What was the cause? When and where did they got married? When the first child was born? There are tons of such questions. I have created a document for myself containing these "common" things and I have decided to translate at least part of it to English so you can understand some rules and laws of Czech society of 18th and 19th century a bit better. First part will be about marriages...
My father was a blacksmith, here in Canada, after training in Slovakia as a young man. So I really love the saying you used. The one we use most often is " the shoemaker's children go barefoot" which captures the same idea. But I am writing like a crazy person now that I've become involved in the context of my ancestors' lives. I want them to be more than just names and dates. The problem is, as I find more info, I write more, so it's a job that may take forever!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to more posts on this topic. As always, thanks so much.
In the US we say the shoemakers children have no shoes....guess all over the world we have a similar saying.
ReplyDeleteNever heard the one with shoemaker's children, thanks!
ReplyDelete