How to Interview Your Relatives for Genealogy

Are you interested in capturing your living relatives stories? Have you figured out a way to do that yet? If you’re anything like me, then you’re still searching for how to interview your relatives for genealogy. So today I’m sharing what I’ve learned so far so that you can be more prepared for the holidays. I’ve learned most of these good ideas from the 21 day Connections Experiment. It’s a great way to connect the family and do genealogy in bite-sized pieces.

Traditional Interviews

If you’re obsessed with family history like me, then you probably already know about the formal, traditional way of interviewing. But for those who may have forgotten or are still new to interviewing relatives, this may be a great way to start.

• Make a list of all of your living relatives. Then put a star next to those that you want to interview sooner rather than later. Then pick one from that starred list.
• Make a plan for what you want to know more about, when you will meet, and how many sessions there will be. You won’t get a full life’s story in one session so plan it out.
• Ask them. Make sure they know your plan. And they are willing to step outside their comfort zone to do it.
• Decide on what tech equipment you will use. Is it just audio? or video? You want this to last a long time so get equipment that is high quality. But sometimes a phone works just fine!
• After the interview, make sure you thank them and give them a copy of the interview. If you want to transcribe it before you give it to them, then ask if that’s ok. Proofread it before you give it to them.
• With their permission, share bite-sized pieces of the interview with your other relatives. This could be done through email, or printed copy, or giving links to a website, etc.
• Rinse and repeat with your other relatives.

Non-Traditional Interviews

Many times we aren’t in a position to do a formal interview, but we want to capture the moment anyway. Or we don’t find traditional interviews fun. There are many reasons for wanting to do interviews in different ways.

• Sibling/Group Interview-Ask questions to small groups to get a more complete picture of the story. Being in groups helps us remember more of the story anyway.
• Dinner Table Stories-Find questions to ask at the dinner table or just pick a topic and see what everyone remembers about it.
• One Memory a Week-Use social media, email, phone, etc. to ask relatives to share certain memories once a week.
• Emails/Letters-Ask your relatives a few questions about their life through letters or email.
• Photos-Use them to spark memories. This is probably the easiest way to remember the story surrounding that person.
• Topics-Pick one topic and ask all of your relatives about it. Such as, how did everyone meet their significant other?
• Kids Ask-Kids can come up with great questions that they really want to know about. So use the car or bedtime to have them ask questions about their parents or grandparents.

Last Thoughts on How to Interview Your Relatives for Genealogy

There are so many good ideas out there to help you with interviews. That’s not the problem. The problem that I see in myself and others is actually Doing the interview! Everyone wants to know about their relatives, but have a hard time fitting it into their schedules. Or they hit a snag, such as a relative not wanting to be interviewed. We do need to remember that our relatives are real people and not just projects. But, with that said, we can still treat them like people AND get get our curiosity satisfied at the same time. We just have to try

In the meantime…good luck and happy hunting!

Tiffany

P.S. Related Reads…

• How to Begin Gathering Long-Distance Family Stories
• 3 Easy Steps for Recording and Sharing Family Stories
• Connect with Your Family with These Useful Genealogy Gifts