Family history is not only the evidence and reasoning that lead to a conclusion. It is also the implications of little vignettes in a local newspaper, mentions in county histories, accusations, hints and interesting conjunctions of facts. It is odd stories, tall tales and little oddities that actually bring people to life. It is about our connections to our past.
Telling the stories is what brings family history to life. I love discovering how client’s forebears touched history’s great currents and little ripples and were changed by them.
Beyond documenting findings, I write and design family history books. I can take projects from the first stages of understanding and organizing what you have, through genealogical research, background research, photo analysis, scanning, photographing and image correction, then on to writing the story of the family, editing it, and designing the book. In the end you get a bound book in your hand. A book might be a few dozen pages of narrative or hundreds of pages of carefully laid out text and illustrations. Images might include old family photographs, digitized documents and pictures of heirlooms—whatever helps tell the story and add interest for the eye, whatever might inspire a relative to share your fascination with the personal past.
You can read samples of my writing in my blog posts.