Family
How well do you know your great grandparents, grandparents, aunts and uncles? Here are some questions from About’s 50 Questions for Family History Interview. I love asking the older people in my family lots of questions but I had never thought of some of these. They would be fun conversation starters and a way to get to know your family better. Even better it might make for an interesting family project. I would love to write all the answers down and make a family book complete with old and new photographs.
- What is your full name? Why did your parents select this name for you? Did you have a nickname?
- When and where were you born?
- How did your family come to live there?
- Describe the personalities of your family members.
- What kind of games did you play growing up?
- What was your favorite toy and why?
- What was your favorite thing to do for fun (movies, beach, etc.)?
- Do you remember any fads from your youth? Popular hairstyles? Clothes?
- Who were your childhood heroes?
- Were you ever mentioned in a newspaper?
- What world events had the most impact on you while you were growing up? Did any of them personally affect your family?
- Describe a typical family dinner. Did you all eat together as a family? Who did the cooking? What were your favorite foods?
- How were holidays (birthdays, Christmas, etc.) celebrated in your family? Did your family have special traditions?
- How is the world today different from what it was like when you were a child?
- Who was the oldest relative you remember as a child? What do you remember about them?
- What do you know about your family surname?
- What stories have come down to you about your parents? Grandparents? More distant ancestors?
- Are there any stories about famous or infamous relatives in your family?
- When and how did you meet your spouse? What did you do on dates?
- Where and when did you get married? What memory stands out the most from your wedding day?
- How would you describe your spouse? What do (did) you admire most about them?
- What was your profession and how did you choose it?If you could have had any other profession what would it have been? Why wasn’t it your first choice?
- Of all the things you learned from your parents, which do you feel was the most valuable?
- What accomplishments were you the most proud of?
- What is the one thing you most want people to remember about you?
