Passing It On

Let the confetti fly: It’s Family History Month!

Today is the first day of Family History Month. That’s a big deal to personal historians and to a growing number of Americans. During a recent series on the family histories of its anchors, NBC’s Today Show recently proclaimed researching family history as the No. 1 hobby in America.

Family History Month began in 2001 when 84 U.S. Senators co-sponsored a resolution that sailed through the chamber, recognizing that 60 percent of Americans are interested in their own family’s history.

The value of saving family stories for future generations is sadly often realized only after a loved one has died and those stories are lost forever. But  even in families where stories are meticulously documented and preserved, new and unexpected material is often uncovered. Just this week, for example, I learned that my grandmother’s marriage to my grandfather wasn’t her first marital journey.

To mark Family History Month, a group of personal historians here in central Iowa has joined forces to present a free Open House from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19, at the Urbandale Public Library. More information will be forthcoming in a few days in my newsletter. Send me an e-mail if you want to subscribe to the newsletter.

Meanwhile, Kimberly Powell lists 10 ways you can celebrate Family History Month here.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Photo: Calvin and Lillie Lehmer with their sons, Warren and Harry courtesy of Larry Lehmer.

Family history isn’t just for old people

When I give presentations to church groups or at retirement communities, I’m one of the youngest people in the room. But researching family history didn’t get to be the second-most popular hobby in the United States by appealing only to senior citizens.

The powerful desire to know one’s family history often begins at an early age, most frequently because of the death of a close relative or through a school assignment to interview and write about a family elder.

Elyse Doerflinger got the bug when she was 12 or 13. Now 20 years old and a California college student, Elyse writes a genealogy blog and posts helpful videos on YouTube.  She’s also one of my Facebook friends. When I asked her for her thoughts about researching family history, here is what she said:

“It all started with my aunt when I was 12 or 13.  She had discovered Ancestry.com and … I thought the facts she told me were so interesting. … Then, during a trip to Tennessee to visit my grandpa for the summer, I discovered so much about my family that I became permanently hooked.  Everyone was telling me stories and giving me information. 

“Being out there, in the rural Appalachian mountains was nice because I learned so much about American history as well as my own history.  Pretty soon I was asking for a filing cabinet to store all of my papers and I started asking for Family Tree Maker software for my birthday and Christmas...I can definitely say that it certainly made me an odd teenager when it comes to that.  Every since - I've been heavily hooked and I never plan on dropping the habit.

“I think researching your family history is extremely important.  It gives you a sense of who you are and where you come from.  Plus, it is nice to be able to connect people in your family tree to history.  Like, I can honestly say that I have an ancestor in the civil war and that I have ancestors that served in both World Wars.  Its honestly an addiction - once you start it takes you over.”

Elyse’s family is lucky to have her around. Most families benefit from a member who serves as family historian. If you have one in your family, give them a hand. Your whole family will benefit.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Photo: Elyse Doerflinger

You are what you collect, to a point

People collect the oddest things. Shards of glass, barbed wire, streetcar transfers.

Maybe you’re one of those people. Almost certainly you’re related to a collector. Some are serial collectors, going from one collection to another. In my lifetime, I’ve collected baseball cards, coins, verification letters/cards from radio stations and phonograph records.

Our collecting hobbies help define us. Putting our personal interests on public display tells others these are things we value. Casual acquaintances often see us in a monolithic way: There’s Larry. He collects baseball cards (better only talk about baseball with him).

Most of us are more complex than that. Our collections are only part of who we are. Then there are the collectors whose obsessive passions drive them past the point of reasonable behavior. William James Sidis appears to be one of those collectors.

His story has a sad familiarity to it. A child prodigy with an estimated IQ of around 300 who enrolled at Harvard in 1908 at the age of 11, Sidis became increasingly reclusive and worked menial desk jobs up until his death in 1944 at age 46. Along the way, he became obsessed with collecting streetcar transfers and self-published a 300-page book on the topic under a pseudonym.

From the mundane to the sensational, think back on the collectors in your family. Are there any members in your family tree that you define solely by their collecting hobby? Maybe you should dig a bit deeper to find out what that person’s life was really like.

Larry Lehmer is a personal historian who helps people preserve their family histories. To learn more, visit his web site or send him an e-mail.

Flickr photo courtesy of neshachan.