{"id":100424,"date":"2024-09-09T09:10:56","date_gmt":"2024-09-09T13:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=100424"},"modified":"2024-09-09T09:11:18","modified_gmt":"2024-09-09T13:11:18","slug":"genealogy-tips-recording-memories-of-your-grandparents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/genealogy-tips-recording-memories-of-your-grandparents.html","title":{"rendered":"Genealogy Tips: Recording Memories of Your Grandparents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>Introduction:<\/em><\/strong><em> In this article \u2013 inspired by yesterday\u2019s celebration of Grandparents\u2019 Day \u2013 Gena Philibert-Ortega gives tips for recording your own memories of your grandparents, so that you can pass their stories down to future generations. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Recently, I visited Disneyland in Southern California, which allowed me to share stories with my kids about visiting there when I was young with my paternal grandparents. We were able to ride the submarine ride, which was my grandfather\u2019s favorite. Once known as \u201cSubmarine Voyage,\u201d it is now rebranded as \u201cFinding Nemo Submarine Voyage\u201d to coincide with the movie. It still includes some of the features I saw with my grandfather back in the 1970s.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_100426\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-100426\" style=\"width: 477px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-100426\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/photo-0909-2024-disneyland-submarine-voyage.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: Disneyland\u2019s Submarine Voyage. Credit: Ellen Levy Finch; Wikimedia Commons.\" width=\"477\" height=\"597\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/photo-0909-2024-disneyland-submarine-voyage.jpg 477w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/photo-0909-2024-disneyland-submarine-voyage-240x300.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 477px) 100vw, 477px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-100426\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Disneyland\u2019s Submarine Voyage. Credit: Ellen Levy Finch; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By taking the time to tell stories about family members who died before my kids were born, I\u2019m able to take those names from our family tree and help them understand the people behind the facts.<\/p>\n<p>Did you know your grandparents or a grandparent? Did you spend time with them? What stories do you remember? Now\u2019s a good time to write down your memories to include with your family tree so that your descendants inherit stories as well as facts.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_100428\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-100428\" style=\"width: 542px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-100428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/photo-0909-2024-underwater-view-submarine.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: underwater view during the submarine ride. Credit: Gena Philibert-Ortega.\" width=\"542\" height=\"730\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/photo-0909-2024-underwater-view-submarine.jpg 542w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/photo-0909-2024-underwater-view-submarine-223x300.jpg 223w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 542px) 100vw, 542px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-100428\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: underwater view during the submarine ride. Credit: Gena Philibert-Ortega.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The following are some questions that might help you start sharing your memories. Use these questions as writing prompts to write as much or as little as you want. Remember, you do not need to be a writer to write your memories.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Describe your grandparent\/s. What did they look like?<\/li>\n<li>How old were your grandparents when you were born?<\/li>\n<li>Where did they live? What did the outside of their home look like? Is there anything about the home that stands out to you or was your favorite thing?<\/li>\n<li>What did the inside of their home look like? How many rooms did they have? What did they have in their home? Think in terms of describing a room like the kitchen. What appliances did they have? What did they have that we don\u2019t use today? Did your grandmother like to cook? What did she cook?<\/li>\n<li>What occupations did your grandparents have? Did you visit them at work? Do you own anything they used in their work or that documents their work?<\/li>\n<li>Were your grandparents members of any type of organization (Masons, Knights of Columbus, for example)? What do you know about their membership? Are other members of the family a member of that group?<\/li>\n<li>What do you know about your grandparents\u2019 younger years?<\/li>\n<li>Did you know your grandparents\u2019 siblings? Which siblings? Did you visit them? What were they like?<\/li>\n<li>Did you ever go anywhere with your grandparents? Where?<\/li>\n<li>Did your grandparents have a hobby? Collection? What are your memories about this?<\/li>\n<li>Have you inherited anything from your grandparents? What is that item? What is its history? Why is it important to you?<\/li>\n<li>What is your favorite memory of your grandparent\/grandparents?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Add Context to Those Memories<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to add images, photos, documents, and historical newspaper articles to these memories to add historical context. This will help your family better understand stories that occurred in a time period they are not familiar with.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_100429\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-100429\" style=\"width: 542px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-100429\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/photo-0909-2024-submarine-porthole.jpg\" alt=\"Photo: looking through a submarine porthole. Credit: Gena Philibert-Ortega.\" width=\"542\" height=\"726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/photo-0909-2024-submarine-porthole.jpg 542w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/photo-0909-2024-submarine-porthole-224x300.jpg 224w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 542px) 100vw, 542px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-100429\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: looking through a submarine porthole. Credit: Gena Philibert-Ortega.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For example, I don\u2019t have a photo of my grandfather and me on the submarine ride \u2013 but I did take photos during this visit and I can use historical newspapers to add some information.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_100430\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-100430\" style=\"width: 493px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/doc\/newspapers\/image\/v2%3A136E6A0F0DF56B38%40GB3NEWS-13CD62D39D30598A%402445127-13CBFC81B8765602%40124-13CBFC81B8765602\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-100430\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/san-diego-union-newspaper-0606-1982-disneyland.jpg\" alt=\"An article about Disneyland, San Diego Union newspaper 6 June 1982\" width=\"493\" height=\"807\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/san-diego-union-newspaper-0606-1982-disneyland.jpg 493w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/san-diego-union-newspaper-0606-1982-disneyland-183x300.jpg 183w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 493px) 100vw, 493px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-100430\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Diego Union (San Diego, California), 6 June 1982, page 125<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>So many times in family history we concentrate on generations from the distant past, but documenting those family members we knew is also important. Take some time to write down your memories and include them with your family history.<\/p>\n<p>Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/sign-up\">Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> grandparents. Credit: sylviebliss; Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gena Philibert-Ortega gives tips for recording your own memories of your grandparents, so that you can pass their stories down to future generations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":100433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12713],"tags":[2719,57971],"class_list":["post-100424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-research-tips","tag-genealogy-search-tips","tag-grandparents"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/photo-0906-2022-featured-graphic-grandparents.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100424"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100439,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100424\/revisions\/100439"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}