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How to Write Your Family History

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Choose a Format

Define the scope, set realistic deadlines.

Choose a Plot and Themes

Do Your Background Research

Don't Be Afraid to Use Records and Documents

Include an Index and Source Citations

Certificate in Genealogical Research, Boston University
B.A., Carnegie Mellon University

Writing a family history may seem like a daunting task, but when the relatives start nagging, you can follow these five easy steps to make your family history project a reality.

What do you envision for your family history project? A simple photocopied booklet shared only with family members or a full-scale, hard-bound book to serve as a reference for other genealogists? Perhaps you'd rather produce a family newsletter, cookbook, or website. Now is the time to be honest with yourself about the type of family history that meetings your needs and your schedule. Otherwise, you'll have a half-finished product nagging you for years to come.

Considering your interests, potential audience, and the types of materials you have to work with, here are some forms your family history can take:

Memoir/Narrative: A combination of story and personal experience, memoirs, and narratives do not need to be all-inclusive or objective. Memoirs usually focus on a specific episode or time period in the life of a single ancestor, while a narrative generally encompasses a group of ancestors.
Cookbook: Share your family's favorite recipes while writing about the people who created them. A fun project to assemble, cookbooks help carry on the family tradition of cooking and eating together.
Scrapbook or Album: If you're fortunate enough to have a large collection of family photos and memorabilia, a scrapbook or photo album can be a fun way to tell your family's story. Include your photos in chronological order and include stories, descriptions, and family trees to complement the pictures.

Most family histories are generally narrative in nature, with a combination of personal stories, photos, and family trees.

Do you intend to write mostly about just one particular relative, or everyone in your family tree ? As the author, you need to choose a focus for your family history book. Some possibilities include:

Single Line of Descent: Begin with the earliest known ancestor for a particular surname and follows him/her through a single line of descent (to yourself, for example). Each chapter of your book would cover one ancestor or generation.
All Descendants Of...: Begin with an individual or couple and cover all of their descendants, with chapters organized by generation. If you're focusing your family history on an immigrant ancestor, this is a good way to go.
Grandparents: Include a section on each of your four grandparents, or eight great-grandparents, or sixteen great-great-grandparents if you are feeling ambitious. Each individual section should focus on one grandparent and work backward through their ancestry or forward from his/her earliest known ancestor.

Again, these suggestions can easily be adapted to fit your interests, time constraints, and creativity.

Even though you'll likely find yourself scrambling to meet them, deadlines force you to complete each stage of your project. The goal here is to get each piece done within a specified time frame. Revising and polishing can always be done later. The best way to meet these deadlines is to schedule writing time, just as you would a visit to the doctor or the hairdresser.

Choose a Plot and Themes

Thinking of your ancestors as characters in your family story, ask yourself: what problems and obstacles did they face? A plot gives your family history interest and focus. Popular family history plots and themes include:

Immigration/Migration
Rags to Riches
Pioneer or Farm Life
War Survival

If you want your family history to read more like a suspense novel than a dull, dry textbook, it is important to make the reader feel like an eyewitness to your family's life. Even when your ancestors didn't leave accounts of their daily lives, social histories can help you learn about the experiences of people in a given time and place. Read town and city histories to learn what life was life during certain periods of interest. Research timelines of wars, natural disasters, and epidemics to see if any might have influenced your ancestors. Read up on the fashions, art, transportation, and common foods of the time. If you haven't already, be sure to interview all of your living relatives. Family stories told in a relative's own words will add a personal touch to your book.

Don't Be Afraid to Use Records and Documents

Photos, pedigree charts, maps, and other illustrations can also add interest to family history and help break up the writing into manageable chunks for the reader. Be sure to include detailed captions for any photos or illustrations that you incorporate.

Source citations are an essential part of any family book, to both provide credibility to your research, and to leave a trail that others can follow to verify your findings.

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Warts And All

Writing, Scrapbooking, Podcasting My Family History

5 Templates To Quick Start Writing Your Family History

how to write an essay about your family history

Researching your family history usually begins with finding names, dates & places. It doesn’t take long before you have a list of births & baptisms, deaths & marriages, occupations & residences. The thrill of the chase keeps us searching and our lists grow longer. But who wants to read lists? Now is the time to take those lists and turn them into something else. Something your family will enjoy reading!

The first post I wrote for this blog, (Not The Beginning) was not intended to be a cryptic clue. It was simply my way of dealing with the belief that, as I could not write a novel I would write what I know about my family history as I found it. Using the magic of ancestry research I accumulated a plethora of names, dates, occupations and roots in many English counties. Unexpected stories turned up in Canada, ( Finding Hidden Stories In Military Records ) and a family secret saw the light of day ( What A Tangled Web We Weave) The process I went through each time was chaotic and in many instances I lost and found important information many times over. The better I became at finding information the more disorganized I became.

I began by using research recording forms but I found the final product was just a different shaped list! What I needed was something between a list and a short story. In school they were known as “Pen Portraits” If you’re stuck at the “list” stage or if you want to take a “one step at a time approach” to something bigger then writing family history templates is the easiest, most stress free way to start. All you have to do is………………………. Choose, Write, Now!

Family History Template #1

Short story.

The focus of this template is a short story about one family member. It is the perfect solution for those times when you stumble upon a story that you can’t wait to write about. In my case it was my Great grandfathers criminal record.The profile facts took second place to the story line. The one thing it has in common with the writing template I did choose, (see below) is that it is minimal, clean and easy to use. The colour schemes are a personal choice and can always be changed. Using images of your ancestors brings your story to life but, if you don’t have photographs of your relatives images of the church where they were married, gravestones or local area will also add to the short story.

Family History Template #2

Short story floral.

This template works well when you know the subject personally or have access to someone who does. Personal stories tend to be the first family history stories written. They were the first stories to be posted on my blog and when family members asked for copies I presented this completed writing template as a gift rather than copying the post from the blog. This particular bundle includes two “empty” pages for those of you who have extra photographs, lots of stories or perhaps even newspaper articles to add. Remember all templates can be modified to fit the research material you have. It maybe you can only fill one page in which case the other pages will keep until your research turns up more information. Completing one page could be all the motivation you need to give impetus to your research.

Family History Template #3

Short story boxed.

This is the family history template I used for “When Great Grandfather Went To Town”. The researched material for Theophillus Adcock fell into my lap courtesy of his unusual name. Using the British Newspaper Archives his court case, living arrangements and social standing provided all I needed for a more extensive piece of writing. This template allowed me to take all my material and place it into the social history of the times. Even with limited facts the social history added supporting material. For example I knew from finding out the living costs of basic food items that Great grandfather outlaid a lot of money on alcohol! Like all templates extra pages can be added as your research turns up more material.

Family History Template #4

Easy modern.

This family history template is another example of less is more. The design is simple with plenty of ‘white’ space for easy reading. It differs from the other templates in that it gives extra space to the lives of the siblings. The focus of the family history is still the main character but with the added information about the siblings. The result gives the main character a place in the family. Knowing that your relative is the youngest in a family of 10 can help your research. For example. when I couldn’t find a name on a census, knowing he was the youngest of 12 children, led me to searching successfully with elder siblings in another county. If the “greenery” on the short story page is not to your taste it is simple to remove.

Family History Template #5

Family tree.

My end goal when researching is always to find stories that I can share with my extended family. My first blog post centered on my immediate family and, surprisingly it was my Great Niece who responded so positively that gave me the motivation to keep posting. I was also fortunate to latch on to a Canadian Military enthusiast who guided me to the story behind the emigration of my Great Uncle from the East End of London to fighting in the Canadian Army (Finding Hidden Stories in Military Records) Like many family historians I often find myself chasing a lead that is two generations away from where I should be! When you put this along side the habit of earlier generations of naming their first born son after the father it is not surprising that I often find myself wondering how John Smith managed to produce three children before his 10th birthday! My solution to this muddled approach was to have a simple family tree template within easy reach. There are two ways of using this family template. I either use a split computer print the template and add names manually. Adding it to any of the templates above is also an option. For those family members who are not used to following family trees, I strongly recommend you choose one if only to avoid brain freeze!

Support For Family History Templates

If you are new to the world of templates my advice is persevere as they will save you time once you master the process. It is unlikely you will ever find a template that ticks all your boxes which means you will have to learn some new skills. The text boxes may be too small, font choice not to your liking or the colour scheme does not match your “brand”. The only solution is to learn how to change and adjust the template that is closest to your needs. Everything you need is on the tool bar….you just have to find it. The download below will get you started with a few basics.

What is not started today is never finished tomorrow Goethe

How to Go From Boring to Brilliant Family History Writing

So, you’ve done so much family history research that you’re drowning in facts and you’ve decided – that’s it – I’ve got to start writing some of this up!

Only now you are stuck. Don’t worry, you are not alone.

Unless you’re a bit of a Marvin (from Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy) you are probably perfectly fine at telling stories. I mean, we tell snippets of stories all the time, whether it’s moaning to the postman about our encounter with a grumpy lady in Tesco’s. Or explaining our Great-Grandfather to our 3rd cousin twice removed. We tell stories daily.

It’s often only when we come to write these stories down that we struggle. We can’t find the “right” words. We lose our voice. We get bogged down in details. We forget about our core story. The thing that made us want to tell it in the first place. We either stare at a blank white page, unable to even start writing OR we write tons of words – read them back and decide we’d like to delete the lot.

In this article, I’ll share some tips that’ll transform your family history writing. I’m not saying you are going to become a world-renowned author. We’re not all JK Rowling. But, when you give your cousin Sue the story about your great-gran, you can be sure she’ll read it, enjoy it and therefore remember it.

Before you start writing your family history, decide your audience.

Sometimes our audience is clear, such as I’m writing this for my children. But, we don’t always have a particular person in mind. You may be writing up your family history for fun, to check for gaps in your research, as ‘cousin bait’, as a blog for fellow genealogists or professional reasons.

That’s fine, but you need to try to imagine who might be reading. Let’s use my blog post on my Woodrow witch ancestor as an example. It could attract unknown cousins, fellow genealogists or person’s interested in family history. It might attract those that like reading true stories.

These readers all have some things in common. They are unlikely to be children. They are likely to enjoy history. Yet, some readers may have lots of family history knowledge, others none at all. I need to ensure I don’t alienate anyone. For example, I use language appropriate to their reading age but without jargon.

Envisioning your audience, their likes and dislikes will help inform your writing.

Decide On The Message For Each Piece of Family History Writing

Your writing doesn’t have to have a deep and meaningful message. But, it does have to have some sort of point. For example, my blog post ‘ Blue Blood ‘ explores my illegitimate ancestor. I wanted to make my research journey clear and to inform readers of the parentage of my ancestor. That was my message. Whereas, my blog post ‘A Hidden Victim of Ripper Mania ‘ had a statement at its heart. I wanted to use my ancestor’s story to explore the effect of constricted gender roles. I wanted to show her story of suicide as a possible consequence of Victorian rigidity.

Regardless of whether your message is divisive, exploratory or informative, decide it before you start. Don’t let it get lost or diluted. Keep checking on your message. Are you getting to the point? Is it clear?

Set A Plan & Avoid Tangents

Before writing your family history make a plan. Exactly which ancestors are you going to cover? Over what time? Who will you start with? How will you break up their story? How does this plan work with your decided audience? Where will you show your message?

Setting a plan will give your writing structure. It’ll ensure you cover all the points you want to explore. It’ll ensure your message comes through. It’ll help you weed out or avoid random tangents.

Odd pieces of off-topic text can be very distracting. It’s easy to fall into a trap of including things because they are ‘interesting’. This is an error. Adding random pieces of content dilutes your story. It starts to feel rambling and the message becomes lost.

Writing Your Family History

If you can't write it, say it.

One of my favourite writing styles, especially for short stories, is ‘conversational’. I like to feel like the writer is sat next to me, sharing their tale over a cuppa. That’s not always easy to emulate. So cheat! Record yourself whilst you explain the story.

Try telling your family history over writing your family history

You don’t need anything fancy to do this. Download the free app Otter ( Google Play or Apple Store ) onto your phone. This nifty programme will listen to you talk and convert your words into text. It’s not perfect but its accuracy is impressive.

Next, take that speech-to-text and edit it. Use it as a starting point and build upon it.

Pay special attention to the words you use or turns of phase. This is your real voice. Use those phases in your family history writing to make it feel more authentic.

Use Endnotes or Footnotes to separate your family history writing from sources

You don’t have to put all your details within the body of the text. I have read a lot of family histories that start like this:

“My ancestor, John Brown was born on 5th June 1857. He was christened on 10 June 1857 in St Michael’s Church, Basingstoke. His older brother, Thomas was christened on the same day. Thomas was born on 20th March 1855.”

Family history writing doesn't have to list facts

For an instant win, try putting some of those details in footnotes or endnotes, alongside any source information. Doing so transforms our sentence, to something like this:

“John and his older brother Thomas were both christened in the summer of 1857 at St Michael’s Church, Basingstoke.”

Bring Your Family History Writing To Life

Reading a list of facts is boring. We need details to help spark our imagination. Writing family history is challenging because we need both accuracy and imagination.

Let’s look at our 1857 christening example. It took place in the summer and it’d be easy to presume that the weather was hot. We need to check though! That June may have been infamous for its terrible weather.

Light up your family history writing with details

Our example took place in a church. We may look at a photo of that stone building and presume it looked the same way in 1857. Again we need to check. What if the church flooded that year? What if the building we see today is a replica?

Once we’ve got our confirmed details though, we can use them to create texts rich in detail:

“Summer 1857 was hot and the parishioners of St Michael’s Church must have felt relieved to sit within the cool of the church’s thick stone walls. On 10th June the Brown family filled the congregation. A generation of bottoms squashed into the tiny pews. I imagine the new Brown babies (Thomas and John) cried as the icy holy water splashed onto their foreheads. Three years before them, a daughter had been baptised using that same deep stone font. Her little bottom was missing from the row of Browns that watched the ceremony. Perhaps her mother, Elizabeth was thinking of her as she hushed her son’s bawl…”

Find The Right Words

Successful authors tend to have a fantastic vocabulary. Reading widely can help you to expand your own. But, you can also use a thesaurus to aid you – especially if you find you are using the same words repetitively. There are loads of free thesaurus’ online.

It is also worth bearing in mind that old adage, “show not tell”. If you find your text is full of adjectives (describing words) then start pruning them! Replacing those adjectives with strong nouns can actually enhance your writing.

I recommend reading “ Kill Your Adjectives “. It really explains this concept in much more detail and gives some great examples.

Use Tech To Help With Grammar

Even the very best of writers make mistakes. That’s why they have proof readers and editors. Now, whilst using a real-life person is always best, that’s not always possible. So, use apps to try to fill the gap. Hemingway is a free editor. Type in your text and using various colours, it’ll highlight sections that use a passive voice or are hard to read. It’ll point out your use of adverbs too. Fixing these errors will lead to better writing.

Other apps that can help include, Grammarly (a free app or chrome extension). It will point out all your spelling and grammatical errors. Underlined. In red. I hate it. I love it. It’s one of those kinds of relationships.

Editing and Proof-Reading

Apps aside, nothing beats a human eye on your work. In an ideal world, once completed, put your writing away. Leave it for at least a couple of weeks before you pick it up and start editing. Then finally hand it to someone else to read. Proof-reading is a talent. It’s why people get paid to do it! So, do what you can. Pass it to who you can. Don’t beat yourself up if 3 months later you look at it again and there’s an apostrophe in the wrong place.

Enhance Your Family History Writing

An image is worth 1000 words.

Those of us writing up our family history today have a huge advantage over our ancestors. We have the mighty power of the internet. Within seconds we can have access to quality photographs to add to our work.

Use images to “back up” the detail you’ve written or to separate large pieces of writing. These don’t have to be images of your ancestors. Use photos of buildings, maps, artwork, newspapers. Mix it up!

On a practical note, ensure you are not breaking any copyright laws. On Google Images select Settings-Advanced Search and filter by ‘Usage Rights’ to find images marked as shareable. Read the different levels of copyright and attribute your images as appropriate. If in doubt, check with whoever owns the image before you use it. If you can’t find someone to ask and are still unsure, then don’t use it. And yes, I know exactly how frustrating that can be!

Geograph is great for free images of places and buildings within the UK. You can also utilise sites like Unsplash , Pixabay and Pexels to find free pictures. Use Canva to curate your own images and text graphics.

Add Charts To Your Family History Writing

Make use of another advantage available to modern genealogists. Create and add family tree diagrams to your text. These not only break up long passages but make the text itself easier to follow. Use charts to explain genetic relationships. Create these either within your family tree package or using Microsoft PowerPoint or Excel, or your Mac or Google equivalent.

Break Up Your Family History Writing

Depending on the length of your family history writing, consider using tools to make it easier to navigate. Very long works benefit from contents pages and indexes. All easily created in Word.

Shorter pieces may benefit from section breaks and sub-headings.

Give It A Title

People make snap decisions about what to read. Give your text the very best chance by giving it a great title. Use the Headline Analyser to see which of your ideas is worth pursuing. Or browse these 100+ blog title ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Do You Enjoy Writing Your Family History Stories?

Writing up your family history should be enjoyable. Be honest with yourself. If writing your family history feels like a form of torture then don’t do it! It’ll come through in your writing anyway. Writing up your ancestors’ lives is not the only method of recording their histories. You could simply do some oral recordings. You could try making a presentation.

Or you could join my Curious Descendants Club! With regular workshops and challenges, this Club is designed to help you write your family history. You can find all the details here, including testimonials from existing members .

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9 Tips for Getting Started on Writing Your Family History

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Written by Diane Haddad, unless otherwise noted.

Once you’ve been doing genealogy research for a while, and you have a family tree or a computer hard drive or a filing cabinet with a bunch of notes and old records, you might wonder what to do with it all. Or perhaps you’ve always harbored the dream of sharing your family history, and you’re not sure how.

It’s a hard truth: Few people have much use for an unstructured assortment of documents and computer files. Even folks who are curious about their family history—and that describes most I’ve met—aren’t likely to sort through your research and rebuild the store of knowledge you’ve amassed over years.

If your family research is to live beyond you, you’ll need to do the work of putting it into some shareable, lasting form. That usually means summarizing your finds in writing, maybe enhanced with photos and images of interesting documents. Whether you go all-out with a self-published hardback or just pass out stapled pages at the next family reunion, you’ll create a legacy—a framework others can use to understand your family’s story and the genealogical evidence you’ve gathered.

We can’t promise the project will be a breeze, but we can promise it’ll be easier when you follow these tips and use our handy organizing worksheet.

1. Know Your Purpose

Before you begin, it’s important to know what you hope to accomplish with this writing project. Do you want to summarize all your research, share your family legacy, pass down the stories Grandpa told, tell how your family fits into local history, share the story of an ancestor or family you admire, celebrate your ethnic heritage, or something else?

A strong focus makes the project more manageable, says Sunny Jane Morton, author of Story of My Life . “A small, finished project is better than a three-volume tome that exists only in your dreams.”

Need help narrowing the scope? Morton advises looking at your research for the most compelling story or interesting person. Author Sophia Wilson, who penned an 160,000-word history of her family, started her project by writing as many family stories as she could think of, then turning them into short biographies of the people involved. She wrote every day for at least 15 minutes, but sometimes for hours at a time. Taken together, those biographies served as the starting point for her project.

Alternately, you could choose a topic that commemorates an upcoming family milestone, such as your parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. Or you might start with whatever is most doable.

Your audience is an important aspect of your goal. For a project just family will see, you might use a casual writing style, refer to relatives with familiar titles (“Great-grandpa Thornton”), and use in-text source information. If other genealogists will read your work in a newsletter, journal or published book, you’ll want a more authoritative style with an emphasis on your research process, and formal source citations in footnotes and source lists.

Think about your audience’s age (or level of maturity), too. Wilson recalls how her research turned up stories that might not be appropriate to a younger audience. “Instead of shifting the focus of my book, I decided that children could simply read the unvarnished truth once they were mature enough,” Wilson says. “Age-appropriate stories could be extracted and adapted for a younger audience, for whom I would also write at a lower reading level.”

“I kept coming back to what I wanted the project to accomplish (preserving and sharing memories for the younger generation) and letting that guide my decisions,” she says.

2. Make a Plan

An outline gives you a framework for building your project, especially if it involves multiple people or a long time span. Make a list of elements you want to include. Don’t worry about organizing the list yet.

Here’s an example for my maternal family history opus:

a family tree of Mom’s family
information about the places the family came from with a map, including why so many immigrated from each place
names and immigration details of all the immigrant ancestors: Henry Seeger, Eduard Thoss, Mary Mairose, Thomas Frost, Edward Norris, Elizabeth Butler, Henry Hoernemann, Anna Maria Weyer, and so on.
where these families settled in the United States, their jobs and their children
Eduard Thoss tavern in Northern Kentucky
info on Cincinnati Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, where so many settled
Dierkes boys in family cemetery plot
Henry Seeger’s cigar store, with photos and timeline, and two babies who died as infants
Thomas Frost/Mary Wolking divorce
Ade Thoss and the Covington Blue Sox
possible family connection to Windthorst, Kan.
death of Elizabeth Teipel Thoss and several of her children
Benjamin Teipel trap-shooting invention and death
Civil War service of Frank and Benjamin Thoss
firefighter Raymond Norris and Newton Tea & Spice Co. Fire
how Grandma and Grandpa met

Your list might cause you to rethink your project scope. For example, I’m seeing that I could divide up my project by family branches, breaking it down into smaller parts (and this is only part of my list).

When you know the topics you want to cover, arrange them in an order that makes sense to you. You could do chronological order, geographical order (group all information related to Germany, all immigration information, all second generation information), family branches one at a time, or some other arrangement. You could opt for a general overview then add several shorter profiles of specific ancestors or families.

Wilson shares how she thought about structure while planning her project:

One option would be maintaining individual biographies, organized in the book by birth year, generation or location. Or I could combine all biographies into a single narrative chronology, or even organize the stories by theme (women, farming, culture, etc.). I opted for the most straightforward and comprehensive order: chronological. With this approach, I gained a deeper understanding of how my ancestors’ lives developed over time, and how one event flowed into another.

Next, create an outline by organizing topics into sections or chapters. Read published family histories for examples. One of my favorites is Family by Ian Frazier.

3. Say It with Pictures

Pictures and graphs will engage your readers, help them follow complicated lineages and show what you’re talking about. “Plan as you go which pictures, documents, maps, charts and genealogical reports will best illustrate your narrative,” Morton advises.

Depending how many photos and documents you’ve found, you’ll want to winnow the options to those from key moments in your family history, selecting those that will reproduce well in the finished product. Consider adding transcriptions for hard-to-read or foreign-language documents.

Keep copyright in mind. If you plan to publish your work (including on a website), get permission from the copyright holder or owner of any images you didn’t create or that aren’t in your personal collection. For a quick read about understanding copyright laws, check out this article .

4. Get Organized and Utilize Apps

Now you’re ready to write. As you work, go over your records for families and people you’re writing about. Wilson developed a filing system that automatically sorted documents by individual. “I created a separate document for every event so I could easily insert new findings, titling each with the event, the date and the location,” she says. “I then grouped the documents into folders, one folder for each year.”

To help you organize source references, add in-text references with the title, author and page or record number in parentheses when you use information from a record, article, book or website. Also create a bibliography of sources as you go. This should include everything needed to find that source again: title, author, publisher or creator (such as the National Archives), publication date and place, website, etc.

Later, when your project is mostly complete, you can keep the in-text references, or number the references and create footnotes (short-form citations at the bottom of the page) or end notes (short-form citations at the end of a chapter). Include the bibliography at the end of your work. For help with source citations, use the book Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills (Genealogical Publishing Co.).

You might have a writing head start if you can pull together blog posts or short essays you’ve already written about your family history. Your genealogy software or online tree might offer a timeline you can follow, or even generate a narrative report for you. For an ambitious project or if you do a lot of writing, you might invest in software such as Scrivener . Additionally, writing apps can help you create an outline, organize and edit your story.

Read: How to Create a Genealogy Source Citation

5. Generate Ideas through Prompts and Research

If you’re still having trouble knowing what to write, try answering the family history writing prompts in a book such as Stories From My Grandparent or from Family Tree Magazine . These will help you flesh out ideas and take your family stories in new directions.

Revisit your research for story ideas, and let what you find in documents inspire you. Wilson consulted books (both digital and physical) about her ancestors’ location and ethnic group, as well as documents on genealogy websites like Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com. One book on Ancestry.com contained all the church records for her ancestors, some written by her great-great-great-grandfather’s best friend.

Wilson also revisited local histories and newspapers she had found early in her project. “Now that I was further in my research, I recognized more names and better understood the relationships among them,” she says. “People I had dismissed as “townsfolk” turned out to be in-laws and close friends of my lineal ancestors.”

6. Seek Out Help

Look for writers’ groups and classes in your community. From online groups to friends and family members, having a community you can rely on for feedback and encouragement is essential.

Reaching out can also lead to new research finds, important for sourcing the details in your stories. Wilson connected with other family historians, as well as genealogical societies and libraries (who scanned entire chapters of reference books for her to consult). One cousin-in-law even sent her photos and a relevant family keepsake they found on eBay.

7. Begin in the Middle

Don’t let the “how to start” roadblock stall your project right out of the gate. If you don’t know how to begin, just start writing a story you like—maybe it’s about an ancestor’s immigration, military service or venture to the wrong side of the law. The words will flow from there.

“My goal wasn’t perfection, just to get memories on the page,” Wilson says about her first step of writing family biographies. “I didn’t waste time checking spelling and grammar—that would come later.” An interesting or dramatic event is often the best way to begin a story, anyway. Remember, you’re not carving in stone: You can always rearrange things later.

8. Write Naturally

If you’re writing for relatives, pretend you’re telling your family story to a friend. If you’re writing for a publication, tailor your work to that publication’s style.

Wilson had to wrestle with how to balance facts she found in her research with storytelling. “I thought of how much I hated history class growing up—all those names-places-dates to memorize, and no story to latch onto,” Wilson says. “I resolved to … strive for historical accuracy without resorting to the dry tone of a textbook.”

9. Take Your Time

A deadline can motivate you, but give yourself plenty of time. You want this project to add fulfillment to your family research, not cause stress. Start now and work on your writing project a little at a time, once a week or every evening if you can manage it. Imagine where you’ll be a year from now.

A version of this article appeared in the December 2018 issue of Family Tree Magazine , written by Diane Haddad. Sophia Wilson’s article on the steps she took to write her family history narrative appeared in the March/April 2022 issue of Family Tree Magazine .

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How Should I Go About Writing My Family Essay?: Examples and Tips

Family is an integral part of every individual's life. Delving into the intricate layers of family relationships and dynamics can yield a captivating essay. Here's a comprehensive guide with examples and tips to guide you through the process.

What Topics Should I Write About for My Family Essay?

Choosing the right topic is essential. Here are some suggestions:

Writing a Family Tree Dive into your roots! A family tree can be more than names and dates; it can narrate stories of ancestors, their challenges, achievements, and legacies. For instance, "When I looked into our family tree, I discovered that my great-grandfather was a sailor who traveled the world and had countless tales of adventures, some of which have become legendary bedtime stories in our family."

Describing My Family in My Essay Discuss each family member in detail. "My sister, with her fiery red hair and matching temper, is the exact opposite of my calm and analytical brother. Yet, when they come together, they create the most amazing music, with him on the piano and her singing."

Writing About a Personal Memory Share a poignant memory. "I remember the time when our cat, Whiskers, went missing. The entire family turned detectives overnight, searching for clues, putting up posters, and even setting up a 'cat trap' with her favorite treats. The adventure ended with Whiskers found sleeping peacefully in the neighbor's shed, unaware of the chaos she had caused."

Dos and Don’ts When Writing a Family Stories Essay

Be authentic.
Use vivid descriptions and dialogues.
Respect privacy; ask permission if sharing personal details.
Avoid making generalizations.
Refrain from being overly negative or critical.
Don't plagiarize; every family's story is unique.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good hook for an essay on my family? As Tolstoy once said, 'All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' Our family, though, has found its unique shade of happiness.
What should I include in an essay about me and my family? Descriptions of family members, memories, traditions, challenges, and lessons.
How should I start an essay all about my family? Every time I think of the word 'home,' an image of our old cottage, Sunday dinners, and loud family debates comes to mind.
How long should my essay about my family be? Length depends on the requirement; academic essays typically range from 500-1000 words, while personal essays can vary.
How do I make my family essay engaging? Incorporate stories, memories, and emotions.
Is it okay to discuss family challenges in my essay? Yes, but be sensitive and respectful.
Can I add humor to my family essay? Yes, as long as it's in good taste.

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How to Write an Essay About My Family History
Outline WritingWhen writing an essay, there is a logical structure you must follow in giving out your arguments. A proper outline will produce an …
How to Write Your Family History
Writing a family history may seem like a daunting task, but when the relatives start nagging, you can follow these five easy steps to make your family history project a reality.
5 Templates To Quick Start Writing Your Family History
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Genealogy Writing
This article will introduce and compare several different types of genealogy writing projects, provide some important tips, and include a list of helpful references to learn how to write a family history.
How to Go From Boring to Brilliant Family History Writing
Writing Your Family History. If You Can't Write It, Say It. Use Endnotes or Footnotes to separate your family history writing from sources. Bring Your Family History Writing To Life. Find The Right Words. Use Tech To Help With …
9 Tips for Getting Started on Writing Your Family History
Telling your ancestor’s story helps ensure your research gets passed on. Put it all together with these tips for writing your family history!
How Should I Go About Writing My Family Essay?: …
Explore the art of penning the perfect family essay. Dive into personal memories, embrace family quirks, and craft a narrative that resonates. 🖋