Home is such an interesting concept. Is it a place? A feeling? One way I think of home is all the physical houses of my family in which I felt loved and welcome. The furnishings, pictures, and routines of their homes were just as familiar and beloved as my own. Both of my grandparents had very different homes, but each spoke to their personalities and their own history. Think about what you remember from the homes of your family members. What stories did you learn there? The pictures they displayed were clues to their lives and also your family and history. Write down any details you remember about them, don’t forget that even as we search for others’ information about our families we are also responsible to help preserve what we can ourselves. Don’ t underestimate what you know or can record.
In instances where it was acceptable, I took pictures of all the rooms in my relatives’ houses when they died. I wanted to preserve what great grandma and grandpa’s kitchen looked like, what grandpa’s military room looked like with pictures thumb-tacked all over the walls. It’s the everyday minutiae that really embody what that person, and in their house, was like. For instance, I find candid photos taken in a 1940s kitchen just as compelling as a staged, formal photo. Look how items were arranged without dishwashers, what kind of dishes were being used. That high chair in the corner might be the same one still sitting in an aunt’s basement – a provenance for a family heirloom. Our homes are often central to who we are – don’t discount them as a starting place for understanding your ancestry.
Genealogy Love 