January Genealogy Challenge: Write an Ancestor Tribute

This month the Genealogy Challenge I'm issuing is to create a tribute page to one ancestor. What I mean by that is - pick an ancestor and write your memories of that person.

Maybe that would be your grandmother or grandfather. Or perhaps your grandmother told you stories of her mom so even though you didn't personally know her, you do know stories about her.

The tribute is not dry facts such as where the person was during each census year. It's not about those facts we find when we are researching. It's about your memories, both the good and the bad!

My suggestion is you keep your Ancestor Tribute to one page double-sided if you want to write a lot, or just one side. It doesn't take long - you just let the words flow and it doesn't have to be in chronological order. It's just your thoughts and memories coming out quickly.

I wrote one and it went so fast that I wrote several others! I got a little fancy with a few and added photos but I kept my Ancestor Tributes to one page. I'm really happy with them and plan to do more and put them into a little coil-bound "book" to share with my siblings.

 Ancestor Tribute page for my great-grandmother. I never knew her but my grandmother and my aunts told me many stories so I was able to write a page about her.

The Ancestor Tribute pages are memories. They might not be accurate. They might be lies, half-truths or misunderstood or half-remembered information. But they have value as they bring the ancestor to life. Did you hear that Grandpa Joe made dandelion wine? Write it down in his Tribute page!

Did Grandma make silly faces at the table? Did you overhear her telling a story about her mother? Write it all down.

My grandfather died before I was born but my Tribute page is based on things my father, Uncle Clare and my mom and aunt told me.

And now I'm off to write a few more. I hope you'll take a half hour and write at least one Ancestor Tribute page this month. If you enjoy it, write more! Share them with family.