FAMILY ACTIVITIES FOR FAMILY HISTORY MONTH

 by Darren McMannis

 October is Family History month.  This is the perfect opportunity to review your ancestry and honor their memory, and to involve your family in understanding their heritage.

 The best place to start is to write down what you already know.  Using a separate page for each of your parents, write what you know about each of them, their siblings, their parents, and their grandparents.  Include dates and locations for birth, death, and other significant events, schools attended, occupations held.  When you’re done with each, make a list of questions about their lives you hope to learn by further research.  Next, share this information with your children.  Get them involved by quizzing them on their ancestry and sharing interesting family stories they’ve never heard before, or by helping children draw out the family tree or writing their own biographies of specific family members.  Children can be encouraged to write and illustrate their own family booklet, using duplicate photos you already have.

 Make a family evening around the table sorting through the old photos of yourself and your ancestors.  This would be a good time to get them out of the shoebox and organize them.  Be sure to write the details on the back of the photos with an acid-free archival ink pen, to insure that your grandchildren one day won’t be sending them to the trash pile.

 Heirlooms that are important to you won’t be meaningful to the next generation unless you emphasize the meaning behind them.  Those who will inherit your mementos will appreciate knowing the story behind them, so this is a good time to record the details and the memories that go with each.  You can include your family in this process, or as a project encourage them to do the same with their special treasures, followed by a family show and tell evening.

 The whole family will enjoy a trip to the Harvey County Historical Museum & Archives and other area attractions.  Use this trip as an opportunity to show your children how their ancestors lived.  Their life is your heritage, their history a part of your own.  For even more hands-on activity, volunteers are always welcomed to help the community through the Harvey County Genealogical Society.  There are records that can be transcribed, headstones to photograph and index, old newspaper articles & obituaries to copy, and inquiries to answer.  Reward yourself by joining kindred spirits in the Genealogical Society, or create and donate your own family tree to the society holdings as a legacy to future generations.

 Most importantly, remember that the purpose of family history month is to honor the family past, present, and future.  Spend some extra time with your family this month, creating memories that will last long after family history month has passed.

  More ideas for celebrating Family History Month can be found at www.familyhistorymonth.org