If you have done any reading on family history or talked about it to a genealogist, you have probably already heard that the first step of any genealogy research should be interviewing your relatives. Why? Because it is usually easy to do, does not require special knowledge or skills and, above all, yields unique information that cannot be substituted or found elsewhere. Also, it is a way to (re-)connect with family members in a meaningful and useful manner.
Having interviewed numerous of families, I thought I would share some tips and lessons learned along the way on how to do a successful genealogy interview.
- Select the interviewees. Naturally, the oldest family members tend to be the most knowledgeable about a family's origins. But do not limit your interview to your grandparents. In my observations, women usually have a stronger interest in family history than men. So, for example, a great uncle's wife can make a good candidate for an interview. Also, some younger family members can have the most insight into a family history, maybe because they were babysitted by their grandparents or just happen to have a natural curiosity for these matters. If there is no suitable person among relatives, try to find someone who was close to the family in the past, like a best friend, a neighbour, a co-worker, an ex-spouse etc.
- Interview more than one person. The more interviewees, the better. First, because different people will be able to tell about different lines and aspects of the family tree, which you can then combine and match, like pieces of a puzzle. Second, because this is a great way to validate the obtained information. In many cases, accounts of the same events will differ. By comparing them you will be able to see what information is confirmed unanimously and therefore is more reliable, and which facts need caution and additional verification.
- Prepare some questions in advance, but don't make it too formal. The main questions to ask in a genealogy interview are the names, dates and places of birth, marriage/divorce, death, other major events like immigration, military service, a family's religion etc. There are plenty of sample questions available online, for example here. However, I am not a fan of "universal", one-fit-all questionnaires, though, as each family's history is unique. Instead, make it into a flowing conversation, with natural, open-ended questions that are relevant for your family and reflect crucial points of a human life. Do not to make it very formal and technical, as it might feel like an interrogation.
- Bring and/or ask for old photos, documents and letters. Human memory is tricky. Sometimes it fails to extract information from its “zipped files”. Having visuals, like family pictures, will help arise the hidden memories. Also, documents or letters that your interviewee may have can speak better than any memories. I remember visiting a family on a field trip in a Western Ukrainian village, when my interviewee was not recognizing any of the names I was asking about. The minute I was ready to leave empty-handed, she remembered there was an old letter in the attic. She returned with a yellow, decrepit letter from a relative, which turned out to be a condensed description of the family relationships and the missing links I was looking for. It felt like a message from across time, answering all my questions.
- Dating events. People, especially in advanced age, may have difficulties remembering exact years or dates. I deal with it is by “playing associations”. To get at least an approximative date, try making connections with other, better remembered events. For example, you can ask how old they were at the time of the event in question. Was it before or after they got married or had their first child? Sometimes you can even get exact dates, by relating to a holiday or a well-known event. It is amazing how such associative thinking can help in remembering even minor details.
- Plan several sessions with each interviewee. It happened so many times in my experience when an interviewee said he or she could not remember anything (else). Almost always, when I followed up in a few days, there would be a new piece of information waiting. Apparently, this is how memory works. By arising some memories, others are triggered, and so on. It is also preferable to interview different people separately, so that they do not influence each other's memories.
- Make a family chart. Always prepare some sort of a chart or a scheme of the family before a family interview. First, because this helps when the amount of names and relationships become overwhelming. And second, because having a structure in front of you will help you come up with better questions in the process of interviewing. This way you can improvise and not only stick to the initial plan. If you do not have a family tree yet, you can start with a simple drawing, keeping people on each generation on a separate level and adding new people as you go. It is not very common, but it can happen that the interviewed family may already have some kind of a family chart. The picture below shows an unexpected school project by a young family member, called “Social Genealogical Diagram of the Fedyuk family”, also in Western Ukraine.
- Record everything and quote sources. If your interviewee is comfortable with audio- or video- recording, definitely opt for it. This way you will have the most precise representation of the interview. If not, take notes of the conversation in some way. You will want to get back to the notes throughout your research process. Make sure you record not only the information about the family members, but also the sources of this information. Ask your interviewees how they know what they are telling about or why they think so. Is it their own experience, is it a guess or is it something they heard from others? Later,when analysing possible discrepancies, you can have a better judgement of which piece of information has more “weight”.
- Prepare for surprises. With all my love and respect to family interviews, I have learned to take them with a healthy dose of doubt. So many times have I encountered documents proving family stories and legends wrong. Just because “grandmother said so”, it does not always mean this is what really happened. It has to do with human subjectivity, tricks our memory plays with us and many other factors. We may remember a wrong piece of information or re-interpret it in some way, misunderstand, forget or confuse with something else etc. Getting the family's knowledge is just the beginning of research, which can and should be verified and supported with documents.
I hope this was helpful. If you haven't done so, consider conducting a family history interview at the nearest occasion, like holidays or a birthday. The sad truth is that there will not always be the opportunity to do so...
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