Family History Writing Challenge 2012 - Day 3

I kept thinking of John Matthews and is death caused by "senile decay". Death certificates often indicate senile decay where death occurs as a result of old age. Do I really believe that?

My Grandmother said many times that her Grandfather was a "dirty old man" -  he would often forget to wash and would wet himself. She recalled this from her early childhood, when he would have been late 60s or perhaps early 70s. I wanted to explore the potential options that perhaps he had what we now know be Alzheimers or dementia.

Both are known to occur in families - driven by the essential facts of Chromosomes which are inherited. We each generally have 23 pairs inheriting half from our mother and half from our father.

My Great Aunt, John's Grand daughter developed Alzheimers. She died in the early 1980s and had always been very much like my Grandmother. Fun loving and very affectionate. When she was in her mid 70s she started to forget things, the usual sorts of things - after all she was elderly! She then started forgetting more serious things, such as forgetting to turn the gas off and would leave the front door open. Eventually she forgot who she was and every one else. It was truly soul destroying. I was an teenager at the time and didn't really notice an awful lot. Reflecting now I realise just how dreadfully sad things were.

In the mid 1990s my Grandmother developed something similar. Whilst her family history made her more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimers, she had in fact a brain tumour, which is fairly common in patients that have had a primary cancer. It would though have been quite easy to have made an assumption, based upon the family history. The doctor in this case explored all options open to them at the time, which would have been a lot more than in 1927!

Whilst the death certificate is absolute, sometimes we need to look at the history surrounding the cause of death. Establishing what it means and try to understand it. After all, we seek to explore all the data of our ancestors and their death is the final fact.

Word count - 369

Family History Writing Challenge 2012 - Day 2

As I wrote the post for Day 1 of this challenge I created a very basic mind map. I usually create these types of things in my journal, but this one started life on a piece of paper and is pinned to my study notice board, and has been transferred to my journal.

The reason I created it is two fold. I wanted to have a spring board for other thoughts and research, which encompasses the additional research I am going to undertake to bring John Matthew's existence to life. Starting with these -

1. Coke manufacture & distribution in the late Victorian period
2. "Senile decay" - definition at the time, definition now and links to now known conditions.

I wondered about the man he was. The heartache he felt, widowed twice, firstly in 1880 and then again in 1896. He also endured, like so many parents of the time, burying one of his children. His eldest daughter Mary Anne (1872 - 1898). I wrote about Mary Anne for last year's Writing Challenge, but again have considered some further facts upon re-reading that post (you can read it HERE). How did John cope with all that life threw at him? 

As you will see from that post Mary Anne had a son. Although I have traced his existence to some degree in the parish and found a headstone in the cemetery, what happened to that son?  Who looked after him and raised him and taught him the basics - brushing his teeth, writing and reading, where did he go to school? So many, many questions and mysteries and all of them in "recent times" which really sounds out how many missed opportunities there have been. Did this child know his Grandfather John Matthews? Did he know his Aunt Edith and Uncle John (my Great Grandfather). Research shows that he did not live with either of Mary Anne's siblings. Edith herself died young and there is no mention of him in my Grandmother's immediate family. 

Word count - 335

Family History Writing Challenge 2012 - Day 1

I do not believe that I have ever read a genealogical document, even those I have read before or those that I knew existed, and thought "Okay!" I have always finished reading and pretty much immediately thought of a question that perhaps I need to ask or explore. Then the mind starts to race and we are off on another journey of discovery.

Sometimes, the road to discovery is simply a path of research and we follow one document or fact after another and it perhaps leads us to where we thought it would. Perhaps, no, not perhaps, it probably leads us to another question or thought. Sometimes that path makes unexpected twists and turns and we find ourselves completely out of our research comfort zone, or perhaps somewhere we we did not expect to; maybe migration to a Country not yet explored. Maybe an occupation that is mind blowing, in terms of skill or process. Not just how something was done, but how that something was done in say the 18th Century.

The journey we each make with our ancestors is full of the paper trail - names, dates and places. births, marriage and death records, census returns. These are the back bone of our research, but what about the other bits of research. How was something done, where was it done? Perhaps why was it done? Even, who was it done with.

My Great Great Grandfather, my Grandmother's Grandfather, was called John Matthews. He was a coke dealer. Yup, that black stuff that is mined. Not the illegal drug we know of today. He had a business in Rugby Warwickshire, was married and raised a family of three children. A small family for the 1870s; small because his wife died. He did remarry, but there were no children to that marriage. He also moved from Warwickshire to Surrey. Immediately I want to know why did he relocate, what happened to his business. Where did the coke come from and where did he sell it too? Did he employ men and they knock on doors and deliver coke?

My Grandmother told me that her Grandfather lived with her when she was a child, but he died when she was small. So, based upon that fact I searched for the death record from 1912 when my Grandmother was born. John in fact died in 1927. What made my Grandmother think he had died when she was a child?  From information that was also shared was that he was a "dirty man" - what did that mean? He would not wash, and would wet himself. He could not longer remain living with his son, daughter in law and 11 Grandchildren. Where did he go? Looking at the death certificate revealed the perhaps the reason. He died of senile decay.  - in 1927 conditions such as Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia were not known to have existed.

Is that so very different to some 80 year old individuals now? The address where he passed away is not known to the family. There was a brief mention of Redhill, but no family member lived at that address. More research is needed on that point. The address in Guildford is known. It is where my Grandmother lived as a child. The person who registered the death is not known to the family. Did he then die alone?

There were lots of questions to start with, but seeing the original document, so many more come to mind.

Word count - 584

Family History Writing Challenge 2012 - Getting Ready

I have spent much of the last week re reading the posts from last year and wondering whether to create a theme to my writing, and focus on particular individuals, or whether to follow last year's patten and start and with a Grandparents and my way back steadily wove across the generations and contemplations. Or perhaps to use the notebooks I mentioned in the introduction to last year's challenge. Even at the point of writing this, I am still undecided.

I have always planned to publish the data of my research in book form. In my reflections post last week I indicated that I was intending to use the 28 posts from February 2011 and a selection of other genealogical posts as the focal point for that book. I may well include the posts from 2012 in the book, it will depend on the length from the selection made.

Whatever I decide to focus on, I will be aided by the photographs, personal recollection from myself. My Mum very often adds interesting snippets and of course more than 25 years of research. These photographs are just some of that data.

Family History Writing Challenge 2012

Lynn Palermo over at The Armchair Genealogist blog has issued the Family History Writing Challenge and I've decided to accept. Here's the details from Lyn's page.

The Family History Writing Challenge

Feb 1^st-29^th

A 29-Day Commitment to Writing Your Family History

The What, When, Where and How of it All

Why should I sign up?

To actively participate in an opportunity to write your family history, without having to worry about quality. The key to writing is to write. Stop procrastinating; finally commit pen to paper or fingers to key board. Those family facts, finally assemble them into a format someone will read.

Whom Do I Write About?

A single ancestor, a surname, a branch of your tree, you pick.

You select the ancestor or ancestors, the timeframe, just keep in mind who you feel most prepared to write about in terms of research and interest.

How Much Do I Need to Write?

You pick the amount 250, 500, 1000 words a day whatever you can work into your schedule.

Do the math.

250 words x 28 days = 7000 words, you would be well on your way!

500 words x 28 days = 14,000 words, this would be an incredible start!

1000 words x 28 days = 28,000 words, you would be a hero!

Where Do I Write?

Write on your computer, ipad, typewriter, longhand (tough to do word count). Write in your office, at the kitchen table, the local coffee shop, the lawn chair (if your someplace sunny- lucky you), or beside a roaring fire (that would be me).

What If It’s Not Good Enough?

This exercise is not about quality. Very few of us can sit down and shoot out a masterpiece on the first draft. Newsbreak..... most of us take a half dozen passes at it before it is worthy of anyone else’s eyes. This is about making a start. There will be plenty of time to edit your masterpiece later, committing to the word count is a huge step to making it happen.

When Does it Begin?

The Family History Writing Challenge begins Feb 1st to February 29^th. I am asking you to commit 29 days of writing your family history, in the hopes that you will get a running start and you will never look back.

Where Do I Sign Up?

Right here, leave your pledge in comments or link to your own blog post, no goal is official until you have written it down and shared it. Once you verbalize, you become more committed. If you prefer to keep it to yourself that's ok too. However, keep checking back or sign up through email, throughout the month, I will offer numerous posts to help keep you focused, offer you some tips for your writing and help you stay on track and reach your goals. At the end of the month, you can share how you did again here, or on your own blog.

What is stopping you from starting your writing? Let me know, and I will try to help you overcome those obstacles. Meanwhile, you have the next 2 days to get yourself organized to start writing.

Write your family history in 29 days, are you ready to take the challenge?

I've signed up again this year. The commitment is to again write 250 words each day because even though many of my posts run longer than that, 250 words is easy enough to do and doesn't put too much pressure on me. So, where to start? I am going to reflect over the posts for 2011, and see if there is anything that I would especially like to follow. Otherwise, I may be a bit more random this year. Who knows!

How about you? Take the challenge! It might be the impetus you need to get some of that family history written that you've wanted to start! 

Follow The Family History Writing Challenge Blog HERE and to take part sign up HERE

Twitter tag - #FHWC