First-cousin to Interview

I have recently connected with a first cousin on Facebook whom I hadn’t seen or talked to in years. Furthermore, we didn’t get to know each other very well, if at all, growing up. I lived in various places throughout the U.S. and overseas, and she stayed in a city other than where the majority of my mother’s side resides.

Too, there is bit of an age difference between us. My mother was the baby of the family, with a significant age difference occurring between her siblings.

My travels as a youth, and the gap concerning our existence on this plane, helped to create the reality of my cousin and I not knowing much about one another. Hopefully, that will soon change.

My cousin has agreed to allow me to interview her, largely regarding my grandmother, who passed before I was born, and grandpa. I didn’t realize she was able to know my namesake, and did not think to ask, but, in my reaching out to her, this was revealed.

I will gather a set of questions tonight and make the phone call to my cuz very soon — hopefully before the week’s end.

I give thanks to my ancestors for seeing this come to pass. May this lead to more knowledge of my family, those who have transitioned and those presently in their earthly form.

Ashe’

Talks With Grandpa

Tonight I called my grandpa, to check on him and to see how he was doing. We always have such lively conversations. Most of the time we are catching up on each other’s lives and that of our family members. This evening, however,  in addition to the usual, I decided to ask him some questions of his time as a youngster up until now, and that of some of our kin who have since passed.

I used to ask such questions, of grandpa, before, but stopped for a while as it became bit of an emotional time for him and I did not want to further upset him. Over time, when I tried again, I limited my questions to one or two — maybe three. Tonight, I asked if I could ask more of these types of questions and he agreed. Additionally, throughout our conversation, I made sure to go at his pace and guage how far he was able to go. Well, grandpa had a lot to say! 

I do not wish to delve into everything here, but I do want to mention that there are many stories of our family tree that I want to look more into and now, thanks to grandpa, I know where to begin.

Need some help coming up with questions for family interviews? Try this list to get you started.

Why start a genealogy blog?

My interest in family tree research began in 1996 as a sixth grade student in St. Louis, Missouri. As part of a history class assignment, I telephoned my paternal grandfather, then residing in Pennsylvania, to gauge his experience living through the Great Depression 1973 Oil Crisis.

We seemingly talked forever. It was the most extensive conversation I ever held with Grandpa Jodey, and notably the best. Unfortunately however, as an eleven-year old, I didn’t, at the time, understand the importance of not only recording but also storing in a safe place that exchange. I wish I had.