Ten Things Oral History Can Teach You

Congaree National Park, Robin Foster 2013

Oral history can include written or spoken accounts that were passed down to us for generations.  You probably have a few stories that you heard while growing up, or there may be stories that your family rehearsed during family gatherings.   To illustrate the importance of documenting these stories, here are  ten things you can learn from oral history:

1.  You can discover the names of people that you did not know that were related to you

2.  Personal accounts of historical events (local or far away) can help us understand how people may have interpreted what happened.  Additional insights can be gained that were not obvious from a newspaper.

3.  It is impossible with your own memory to reconstruct the past.  Gathering the recollections of those who were born before you extends your own memory back beyond your birth date.

4.  Perhaps there are talents or characteristics that you have that were inherited from a particular ancestor.  Discovering the ancestors you are most like can teach you a lot about yourself.

5.  Are you curious as why certain family members seem hesitant to talk about branches of the family or periods in history?  If you are fortunate, someone in the family can help you understand why, or you may find clues in things that were recorded in journals, family letters, or newspapers.  Sometimes there is a lot hiding behind the thick silence.

6.  Stories reveal a lot about the decisions our ancestors had to make.  You may wonder what you would have done in the same circumstances.

7.  Learning about the strengths and weakness and hardships and triumphs our ancestors can tell us something about our own potential and can equip us to to do as well or better than they were able to.  We can learn from their mistakes.

8.  The oral history that is passed down to us illustrates the values important to our family.  Your own identity is dependent upon these values and whether or not you feel obligated to embrace them.  Have you discovered values that you have lived by that an ancestor also embraced?

9.  The life lessons gleaned from stories told can be called upon and shared in the form of a non-threatening story for a wayward youth or during times family members are facing hardships.

10.  Often, descendants feel hard pressed to ambitiously follow a course in life only to learn that they had an ancestor who had a similar desire that went unfulfilled.  We are an extension of our ancestors.  Our children are an extension of us.  What aspirations are we unknowingly embedding in future generations?  What are others we want to purposefully plant into their hearts?

I hope this article has caused you to ponder our family stories and that if there is a story waiting to be saved, that you will take a moment to do so:  FamilySearch - Add A New Story.

Check out a few oral history pins below:

Read Full Story...

Genealogy: My quest to find the living, Part 1

An extended family: Eastpoint, Florida (Photo credit: State Library and Archives of Florida)

I really enjoyed creating this resource because it brought back so many fond memories of discovering extended family. The resources and methods described here have helped me to learn more about my ancestors (photos and stories) through many extended family members that I have discovered. This will probably take up more than one post.

One of the purposes for me in researching extended family was to discover what they could tell me about my ancestors so that I could preserve history in books for my future posterity.  I have been able to publish several books, but I still have along way to go. 

I was very fortunate as a child to have heard the conversations between family members about the past.  I would wait for the discussion to break, and then I would interject my own questions that I anxiously wanted to have answered.  I did this without pen or paper.  My interest was so great, I would often look forward to the times the family would get together so I could learn more.  I hope every young person has the opportunity to hear family stories from parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. 

While young, I began asking questions of my grandmother when we were alone.  I wanted to know about her parents and grandparents. I questioned her about what life was like growing up on the farm.  I asked her about slavery and if she knew any stories of slaves in our family.  She told me that her grandmother was sold from her mother as a slave as a very young child.  She also told me that a grandmother was freed from slavery when she was a child.  

I did not think of asking the name of her grandmother back then.  I know now that it was either Martha Sims Talley or Elenia Coleman Chick.  My grandmother, Otis, would have known both of her grandparents well.  I have documented both of them on the census back to 1870 and on other historical records.

Otis Edna Tucker was very much a lady.  She carried herself as a lady throughout her life.  I  never saw her in anything but a dress. She was very careful to teach me what it meant to be "trifling" as she would say.  I have become like her in a huge way.  She grew up in a time where it did not take much for African Americans to be treated with disrespect.  She knew it was important not to give anyone a reason to disrespect her.  

She was the oldest, and helped out a great deal on the farm.  She even taught in a one room school house where some of her siblings where her students.  Her dad introduced her to Emory Wallace Vance, and little did he know they would later elope.

I have traced the Tuckers and the Chicks clear back beyond the 1700's.  Both of my great grandparents descend from slave owners.  Our records are intertwined within the records of the former owners and their children.  

It was through a family reunion during later years that a print of the photograph of the father of George Anderson Tucker which hung in their home was shared.  A photo of Martha, George's mother, hung alongside it, but it was destroyed in a house fire.

When I began researching, I traced my ancestors back as far as I could.  I wanted to learn more, and as I looked at all the names of their descendants I had recorded on extraction forms in my search, I wondered if there was anyone alive that could tell me more.

I decided to search each census forward to identify extended family that could still be living.  I branched out on several collateral lines. In the next article, I will share some of those census discoveries and how I learned about more members of each family group. 

Related articles

• Meeting extended family.

Read Full Story...

Dealing with Details: Oral History Will Link Us

Because I interviewed the grandson of Columbus McClure, I discovered the details about his tragic death.  I do have a few different versions of the story, but I had enough good clues to find the death certificate. I conducted this interview long before I actually got inspired to search for actual documentation. 


According to oral history, he was walking or driving across a railroad track which was very close to his home in Birmingham Alabama and was hit by a train.  It is not clear to me that he was walking.  He was a driver for a landscape company, so I am not sure why he would have been out walking down by the tracks.

I was able to confirm the fact that he was struck by the train from the death certificate. A few years ago, I  found the index at Ancestry.com. I had to contact the department of vital records to order a copy of the original. 


I was happy to discover further details:
Birth:   November 1881 in Alexander City
Father: Bill McClure
Mother:  Jane
Burial:  Woodlawn Cemetery

These details helped me to locate his grave and identify his siblings on census records.   

Read Full Story...

Cherishing Cards and Letters

Image via Wikipedia(This post is dedicated to my new friend, Abby.)

I have been admiring the wonderful postcards shared in the Denmark Genealogy Research Community.  I have never thrown away a Christmas card.  We usually put them up every year to remind us of the wonderful greetings from family and friends over the years.

In this age of digital communication, the number of cards and letters at holidays and birthdays have dwindled. That just makes me cherish them even more. I especially love the letters and cards I have discovered that were shared by my ancestors long ago.  It makes me very curious about these treasures that my family members have tucked away in dresser drawers, boxes, and attics.

How my heart drop to see these bits of history carelessly tossed into the rubbish when people pass away.  What are you doing with the cards and letters in your family? This is just a reminder of how I was able to extract important pieces of information about my great great grandmother from a letter written by my grandfather to his cousin:

Read Full Story...

1. The Oral History Interview:

I found this tree in a beautiful park not far from my house. It's branches reach so far out, and they are very close to the ground. I could not walk under them. I wondered what this tree would say if it could talk.

My thoughts turned to the people in our lives who have been around long enough to give a perspective on life which we could find useful. They can help us to understand a bit more about who we are and what life is all about.

We just need to stop long enough to ask the right questions and listen. I have been very fortunate to have been able to formally interview a few such people. I have been able to find clues which helped me to discover the names and whereabouts of ancestors. I have also been blessed to discover how much I have in common with my forbears. Every time I get stuck in my research, I find someone to interview. I ask about names, dates, and places, but I also let the person I interview tell their stories. I record and transcribe these interviews because I find myself referring to them many times.

Even when my subject insists he or she does not remember much, they eventually are able to recall important details sometimes days later. If you do not know where to start or even why you should start, interviewing your oldest living relatives is the first and most important step. Remember that even second interviews have been successful in uncovering more information.

Need help with what to ask? Visit the following site:

50 Questions For Family History Interviews


Record from your computer/laptop:

My Favorite Digital Recording Device

Read Full Story...