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- I come from a family of four, including my parents and younger brother. My parents are both hard-working and dedicated to their family. My father is a doctor, and my mother is a teacher.
- I am the eldest of three siblings. My parents are both immigrants, and they came to this country with nothing. They built a better life for themselves and their children through hard work and determination.
- I am from a single-parent household. My mother worked very hard to provide for me, and she always taught me the importance of hard work, determination, and independence.
- Single-parent household. I grew up in a single-parent household with my mother. She worked very hard as a nurse to provide for me, and she always taught me the importance of hard work and determination.
- What is your full name?
- Did your parents name you after anyone?
- What did people call you as a child? Do you have any nicknames?
- When were you born?
- Childhood
- School
- Marriage
- Occupation
- Parents and Family
- Major and Historical Events
- Holidays and Celebrations
- Personal
What’s your first memory? Who were you closest to in your family? What values and beliefs did your parents teach you? How did your parents discipline you? Who were your heroes as a child? Why? What did you want to be when you grew up? If you could relive one day from your childhood, what day would that be? Tell me about your childhood home. How did...
What was your school like? Who was your favorite teacher? What were your favorite school subjects? What was your least favorite subject? What got you in trouble most often? Tell me about your favorite teacher. Tell me about some of your friends. Return to top
How did you meet your spouse? What first caught your eye about your spouse? When did you know your spouse was the one for you? Tell me about your wedding day. What was your wedding and reception like? Were there any surprises? Return to top
Describe your first job. How did you get it? How did you get into your career? What was your favorite job and why? What was your least favorite job? What did you do with your first paycheck? What advice would you offer those nearing retirement? (If retired.) Return to top
How did your parents meet? What do you admire about your parents? Who’s the oldest relative you remember (and what do you remember about him or her)? Was your family religious? Where did you go to church (or synagogue)? Tell me a funny story about your family. What recipes did your mom or dad make that you still make today? Who was the family story...
Choose a big event from the news that happened during the relative’s lifetime (such as the attack on Pearl Harbor, D-Day, the day President John F. Kennedy was shot), and use the following questions to spur your relative’s memory: Where were you when this happened? How did it affect your life? How did you feel about it? Return to top
What’s your earliest holiday memory? What traditions did your family have for celebrating birthdays, anniversaries or holidays? What was your favorite part of holiday meals? What’s your favorite holiday food? When was the first time you spent the holidays away from home? Tell me about someone you miss during the holidays. What types of family reuni...
What is your experience with or opinion of computers? (Add or substitute other modern conveniences, such as television, microwaves and cell phones.) Tell me about some of your favorite songs (also books, movies and television shows). Tell me about some of the places where you’ve been happiest. What haven’t we talked about that you’d like to discuss...
Mar 24, 2024 · These questions will help you conduct a detailed family history interview to create an original source for your family tree research. Documenting your family history by talking to living relatives is the best way to start your journey into genealogy. The story of a person’s life is intricate, and we want to get highlights as well as details.
- Decide on the scope. “Where to start on an oral history project depends on what you want from it,” says Doug Boyd, president of the Oral History Association and director of the Louis B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky.
- Consider everyone. Don’t just focus on older folks for your interviews. Cousins in your own generation may have heard stories you didn’t, or received caches of old photos.
- Prioritize your interview list. Determine whom you’ll need to interview and prioritize it according to risks, suggests Pamela Henson, historian with the Institutional History Division of the Smithsonian.
- Schedule an appointment. Procrastination is one of the biggest obstacles you’ll face in interviewing, so just do it: Pick up the phone or email the relative you want to interview and schedule an appointment.
Feb 12, 2018 · Organize questions by topic. Have your ancestral charts and family group sheets with you as a reference. The names can be a great way to prompt memories, and the gaps can tell you what questions to be asking. Your interview might turn up some mistakes, too, that you would never learn about if they weren’t there to catch during the interview.
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How to conduct a family history interview?
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How do you write a family history?
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How do I write a family interview?
So, as you make a discovery, write out the answer. That sentence or paragraph is a piece of the overall story. That way, when you are ready to write your family history you already have a rough first draft. For example, I wanted to find out what happened to my Great Uncle John. One question was ‘did he emigrate?’
