When I last posted about my progress on my book in progress, OUR BROWN ROOTS, I explained that having researched 13 branches of my paternal grandfather’s family, I was finishing up with my closest family stories. I was writing about my paternal grandparents and their children. How hard can that be?
Well, it is more a more delicate procedure. In writing about difficult financial situations, marriages the have not endured or other painful situations I do not want to offend any cousins. In writing the true story of my family I do not need to include every bad decision (I’ve made plenty of those.) or every family dispute in order to paint a true picture of my grandparents, my aunts and uncle.
In asking for stories about my aunts and uncles we sometimes found ourselves in tears. The more we loved them, the more the memories, the smiles and the tears.
One branch at a time, I consulted cousins. (translation: I became a nuisance, asking for photos, military document, letters and photos.) I wrote their chapters and gave them the printed versions of their family’s story for approval before moving on to the next cousin to bother. Thanks to all those cousins!
(If you are a first cousin who has something more to tell, tell me today!)
Two ladies who have been enormous help are the co – matriarchs of our family. Barbara & Bab, the widows of my father’s brothers, were a part of the stories and told me many things I never knew before. They added life to the book. I cannot thank them enough!
Fellow researchers, keep in mind this lesson that I have learned. It is not the oldest branches of the family that are the hardest to write about.
It is the most recent who are the most elusive.
Thanks to my family!
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