From the popular TV show ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ to the many books and internet sources on tracing and building your family tree history, it is obvious that there is widespread interest in this subject. So it was quite a surprise, on one of my writing trips to the west of Ireland, to come across an article on what I believe is a unique approach to researching your ancestry.
Histories in the Making is the brainchild of the Irish author David Lawlor. I’ve been in contact with him and he has agreed to present his organisation through this blog. So I’ll let him tell you more about what he has to offer, and how to get in touch with him if you want to take advantage of his expertise in building your own family tree.
W.L.
MAKING A PRESENT OF THE PAST
Over the course of the year, families have looked back at 1916 and at broader events in World War I to see what their ancestors did during that seismic time in history. Others will look to this year – the Russian Revolution as a major event in their family’s history. Thanks to the research available on the internet, the past has never felt so present.
In fact, a whole industry has grown up around people’s search to understand who they are and where their ancestors came from. That need to know our own histories is not just down to centenary events, it’s also a hangover of so many citizens having to leave these shores to find work.
With more and more families migrating to far-flung lands, the bonds that tie relatives together are being stretched to breaking point. The oral history that was once passed down from generation to generation about our ancestors is being lost.
Thankfully, there are family members who will step forward and try to retrieve their pasts through genealogical research. The downside to that lies in the dry, uninspiring report that is usually the product of such work.
But a new company, Histories in The Making, want to change that. They aim to present people’s research in a readable and informative way, putting that information into a wider historical context and delivering it in a way that’s readable for all the family. They’re also delivering that research in a more tech-friendly way by offering their clients updatable, interactive webpages that can be sent to family members all around the globe.
‘We want to package the past for families. Very often, people will either have scraps of information about an ancestor or they might have a vast tome of genealogical research that is difficult to read. We’ll knit their stories together and package what people have discovered, putting it into a broader historical context,” says David Lawlor, director of Histories In The Making.
‘We produce printed posters and brochures, but another beauty of our service is that clients can also receive a secure digital file, which can be easily updated. Once you’ve sent the file to family members, any subsequent additions to it will automatically update on the original file received by relatives, which means that family history can always be easily added to.”
Lawlor is a journalist with 26 years’ experience, as well as being a history blogger and the author of six novels. He says he likes nothing more than to tell a story.
‘I want families’ ancestral stories to be personal and not dry pieces of information that people struggle to relate to. Histories In The Making will bring family history to life and give people more of a sense of who their ancestors were and about the times in which they lived. We’ll make the past a present for future generations.’
For further information, go to
email historiesinthemaking@gmail.com
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