History from the Heart | Writer
History from the Heart
Phone: +61 438 838 975
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20.01.2022 Shaking Your Family Tree - Annie Payne Recently my 6-year-old grandson, Toby, had to draw his family tree at school (he’s in Year 1). With 6 grandparents in his family (all of whom have married again), many of the traditional, conventional pro-forma family trees were not relevant for him to use. What about same sex couples who either have their own children or adopt? Or unmarried or professional couples where the woman retains her own name? Families these days are often uncon...ventional. Whenever I write a narrator’s personal history book, I find it useful to draw up a family tree going back to great grandparents, parents, narrator, his/her own children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Sometimes, these seven generations span well over 200 years or so. Can you imagine how rich and fascinating your own life stories would be if you could add some personal details about each person? In my own family, red, auburn hair runs through generations from my Scottish and Irish ancestors, as do deep blue eyes and curly hair. Just noting which relatives had this unique colouring, back to your great grandparent’s era is a fascinating thread to follow. What about careers? Engineering is a career thread in my Wallace family line, from my own daughter’s degree in bio-medical engineering to Great Grandpa Wallace, who designed the electrical grid for the capital city in his Australian state of birth. Some research into your own family history can add a new dimension to your own personal family tree. It’s rather like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, something many of us have been doing as a Covid 19 social isolation activity this family member shares this physical feature, personality quirk or career choice with great grandma/grandpa. Imagine how easy it becomes to help your six-year-old put together his/her family tree for his school project? Your family research is also an excellent place to start preserving your own life stories for future family generations and social isolation is a great time to get this important project started. Why not make a start today! Annie Payne, Personal Historian, History from the Heart
20.01.2022 Have You Experienced Your ‘A HA’ Moment Yet? Annie Payne, Personal Historian Many of the people I meet as I travel through my life tell me, when they hear that I work as a personal historian, about their want/need to preserve their own life stories. They want their family to know various aspects of their life journey. But they haven’t started this important project yet.... In weekly classes or workshops, I have taught many such people the steps on how to get started, what to include and how to complete their own life story, but many people don’t proceed to complete their own project. However, the Covid 19 pandemic, has changed life for many of us. Social isolation has forced many folks to stay at home and some have returned to their wish to ‘get down’ to writing their memoir or life stories. Several have contacted me recently to let me know how much they needed this spur. George wrote: Annie, Corona Virus has given me the push I needed to get my story told. I always wanted to tell my stories myself because I wanted the truth to be told. At home, by myself, in ‘lock down’ I realised the only person to write about my life was me. Patricia emailed: You told me I’d have an ‘a ha moment’ Annie, about getting started on writing my own life story and you were right. I want my story to be told and this wretched virus has given me the time to sit down regularly each day and write for three hours. I felt both joy and sadness while I was writing but now, I have a huge feeling of satisfaction as I near the end of my writing journey. Beth said: Who knew that writing about my own life could be such fun? Without being forced into this strange Covid 19 world, I wouldn’t have been disciplined enough to make a start on this. I’d always ‘scribbled a bit’ but couldn’t get the perspective to write about myself, but now I have even been inspired to write a few short stories, which was fun. This has been such a personal journey, the ‘right time’ for me to spend time handwriting page after page and admiring my ever-growing pile of stories. Have you had you ‘a ha’ moment yet that sudden impulse to start gathering, organising and preserving the life stories you have accumulated along the way? Don’t waste these days of social isolation make a start on preserving your life stories today! Remember: time passes, memories fadeand we take our stories with us when we go!
