#136 Backstory: Family Is Everything, Debut

Nov 27, 2017 | Backstory: Family is Everything

The Not Old Better Show: Backstory

Spending time with my family during memorial services made me think about stories of my dad, as well as stories of his dad, who’d passed away many years ago.  Ever frighten yourself when you couldn’t recall a family story or experiences you know had to have been recounted to you many times by your grandparents? Ever wonder why you know very little about the personal lives of your grandparents or great-grandparents?

Aaron Holt of the National Archives and Records Administration, Ft Worth, TX, says that “it only takes three generations to lose a piece of oral family history.” If you want to avoid losing those precious family stories passed down through the generations, Holt continued, the story “must be purposely and accurately repeated over and over again through the generations to be preserved.”

The notion that my family’s narratives could be lost in three generations gave him the resolve to ensure that didn’t happen on his watch.

For the sake of my posterity, as well as yours, I’ve begun a new Not Old Better Show, with a focus on genealogy, titled “Backstory: Family is Everything.”

Genealogy is the second most popular hobby in the country, with more than 113 million participants and researchers.

Most people want to know more about their roots, origins, home life, work life, social status, relationships, migrations, marriages, health, attitudes, customs, folklore, clothing, foods, environment, and the social issues in the news during the time in which their ancestors lived.

And, that’s what we’ll talk about, and I think you’ll learn a lot, enjoy the journey together and find out something interesting about your roots.

Today’s show is a great one and we’ll hear an author story from an anthology of articles in the McClatchy Newspaper in California.  The first story, by author VJ Vogelzang, in her book, Beautiful Days.  Yes, VJ Vogelzang is my mom, and I thought, given my father’s passing, I’d start with some of my mom’s writing for purposes of our first oral family history.

Enjoy.