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Not just names, dates and places please

Don’t let the results of your family history searches become just a list of ‘facts’. Remember the first word is ‘family’, and this means people. It’s the little anecdotes that bring them to life as well as interesting others in what you’re doing. This is a sample of some of the snippets we’ve found.

Drummed from the force:
He was a member of the early police force and befriended a number of aboriginals. Supposedly he refused to participate in a "hunting party" where the prey was human, and was left in the bush, stripped to his underwear as punishment. Needless to say he left the force.
Not such a good idea:
He worked really hard at converting his third wife to Christianity. He finally succeeded, only to have her newly developed conscience prompt her to admit that she was still married to someone else.
Travelling incognito:
He was supposed to have jumped ship, but when his shipping record was eventually located, he had obviously arrived in some comfort with a large supply of provisions. But he did arrive with a name quite different to the one he changed to some years after his marriage. So did he jump ship from the Navy at an earlier date?
Little indiscretions:
"Did he or his adoptive parents ever know who his real parents were?" Answer: "Oh he was one of Richard's little indiscretions". Really? One of...?
Poor sad little John:
Their second child was called John, after his father. He died early so they called their next son John. He died as an infant also. It wasn't until child eight that they decided to call another son John. He died as a baby also, on the same day as his mother. Father remarried and the new couple had a son whom they called John. He lived for four years. Child number three of the second marriage was also called John. He lived less than a year. FINALLY, child number five was born, he was christened John, and he lived to a ripe old age.
Silence is golden:
He kept a diary of his eventful voyage to Australia. The trip took five months, considerably longer than usual. They faced near disaster in storms, a drunken surgeon who had to be replaced, the deaths of a number of passengers from cholera, and a mutiny by the crew. In all of this diary there is not a single mention of the fact that he had a wife and two children on board with him.
A cigarette and a cuddle:
"Dad used to take his younger sister into town to the dance every Saturday". "I'm sure he didn't", my mother declared, "he hated dancing". "But I only said he took her to the dance; he would leave her there and pick her up afterwards". Grandma and Grandpa thought she was being chaperoned. They were quite unaware that the young ones would sneak out the back of the church hall to sit on the gravestones, have a smoke and a 'bit of a cuddle'.
The wedding dress:
Her wedding photos were beautiful. Look at the flowers, and the detail on the dress. But wait a moment - that's not the same wedding dress! It's definitely the same person, but a different wedding dress! It turns out that there was another husband.

Article Source: http://www.familyhistoryarticles.com

David McLeod and his wife have had bursts of enthusiasm over many years chasing genealogical information. You can see more of their work on their website www.GeneFrog.com

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