Where to start? How do I begin? Familiar questions faced by absolutely EVERYONE who has ever decided to delve into their family’s past. In new programming, Ancestors: Family Records, you'll find the answer is deceptively simple – start at home! Take the time to look in your attic, pull out old letters that have been hiding in boxes in the garage, search for the old Family Bible, check for notations scrawled on the backs of old photos, and seek out journals or diaries that your family members might have kept.
Suzanne Ballard had no idea that when her grandmother passed her a yellowing scrap of paper with some cryptic family information that she’d be able to use it to help unfold a family history that would eventually lead to her discovery of a famous relative, preserved and published family diaries (the Harshaw Diaries, shared with Suzanne by a previously unknown relative, Marjorie Harshaw Robie), and a trip to Ireland to share the dedication of a new gravestone for a long-lost family member.
Take a few minutes to watch and see how Suzanne’s experience reinforces the importance of every scrap of information that can be found – and then get moving to both find your ancestors’ stories, and then create for future generations the same priceless recollections that descendents generations from now will find PRICELESS!
Marjorie Harshaw Robie exemplifies this advice with her new book, Dwelling Place for Dragons, which was inspired by the Harshaw Diaries, and spans 19 years (1830-1849) of Irish History. Her story follows the lives of three men who lived in south Down, and examines the religious and political tensions of the day. For more information, go to Belfast Telegraph.
Og from Roots Television