The response to my post, Writing a Simple Birth Story was wonderful. I hope you were successful as you wrote your first story about an ancestor who is not here to tell their story. Let’s continue the process of expanding stories from a chart to a paragraph with simplicity. This time we’ll focus on the marriage event of Lura Maud Smith to Harry Howard Long. Step One: Make A Simple Sentence Remember the last time where we took the facts we knew from a chart and crafted a simple sentence. All sentences should have a subject and a verb, begin with a capital letter and end with a punctuation mark. I keep stressing these rules with my homeschooled children repeatedly; however, when you don’t know where to start, it’s best to start with the basics. If you happen to have a genealogy program like RootsMagic, then you have access to a simple sentence generator. (Actually, I don’t know what RootsMagic calls this feature). Let’s take a closer look at the sentence RootsMagic crafted for me. Again, the first step is to craft a simple sentence but it doesn’t matter whether you or a software program does the work. Step Two: Expand the Story With Their Age and Number of Marriage Now that we have a starting point, let’s methodically add to the sentence until it becomes as much of a story as we can produce. The next step would be to include the ages of Lura and Harry in this sentence. If this was a second or subsequent marriage for these individuals, I could include that information as well. Harry and Lura had no prior marriage when they wed, so I’ll let that bit of information off. At the age of 23, Lura Maude Smith married Harry Howard Long, who was also 23, on 19 July 1907 in Columbus, Franklin, Ohio. One other tip. It’s likely that I have mentioned Lura more than once in her overall narrative story. I only need to include her full name once, unless she regularly used all names. This is likely the first time Harry has been introduced in Lura’s narrative, so I do need to use his full name at this time. So, I’m actually going to reduce Lura’s name in this paragraph and for the remainder of this tutorial. At the age of 23, Lura married Harry Howard Long, who was also 23, on 19 July 1907 in Columbus, Franklin, Ohio. This sentence will flow better in the overall story. What other information can I add to this story? Step Three: Expand the Story With Other Facts From Marriage Record Chances are, you have a marriage record similar to the one below. There are other pieces of information you can find that will help you expand this marriage story. This record blesses me with a tremendous amount of information that a ‘basic’ group sheet leaves off. First, notice that neither spouse is from Franklin County, Ohio originally? Harry is from New Haven, Ohio and Lura is from Michigan. Lura’s birth would have been established earlier, but I can include Harry’s birth information now. Harry is a bookkeeper and the son of W L Long and Young. From other sources, I know that Harry was a stenographer prior to his marriage and a bookkeeper from this point forward. I could note that career change in the story. Additionally, I know that W L stands for William Lester and the groom’s mother’s name is Sarah Angeline (or Angie) Young. Finally, I can see the name of the religious leader who performed the marriage, Pastor Everett L Rexford. I may do more research about Pastor Everett in the future, but for now, it looks like he was associated with the Universalist Church. I do not know what that means, which again means more research. In examining Lura’s presented facts, I confirm the parental information from her birth story. I know she’s now residing in Columbus, Ohio, but she does not have an occupation, despite being 23 years old. On 19 June 1907, Lura married Harry Howard Long, son of William Lester Long and Sarah Angeline Young, in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio. Though they were both 23, neither was originally from this area but had recently become residents of Columbus. As stated before, Lura was born in Michigan but moved to Columbus soon after. Harry was originally from New Haven, Huron County, Ohio. Prior to their marriage, Harry had been working as a Stenographer and then Bookkeeper. He would continue in that profession throughout their life. Lura did not claim an occupation at this time. The young couple was married by Pastor Everett L Rexford who was affiliated with the Universalist Church in Columbus. Notice how nearly the entire section is bold-faced indicating the new material added to the paragraph? If you have a marriage record with this much detail, it is a gold mine! Step Four: Expand the Story With Physical Descriptions (if possible) For many, the previous step will suffice; however, I yearn for more. Thankfully, I have a photograph of my great grandparents to help me add a little more flavor to my story. I also have a collection of stories written by Harry’s sister describing the appearance of both individuals. From this photo, I can tell that both wore glasses, were slender, and had dark hair. Harry’s sister Elizabeth, was considered a slender well-dressed man with gray eyes and brown hair. She further states that Harry and Lura truly loved each other. Let’s add these insights to our story. On 19 June 1907, Lura married Harry Howard Long, son of William Lester Long and Sarah Angeline Young, in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio. The fine looking couple complimented each other with their slender builds and both sporting glasses. Harry’s sister said that Harry was a well-dressed man with gray eyes and brown hair. Though they were both 23, neither was originally from this area but had recently become residents of Columbus. As stated before, Lura was born in Michigan but moved to Columbus soon after. Harry was originally from New Haven, Huron County, Ohio. Prior to their marriage, Harry had been working as a Stenographer and then a Bookkeeper. He would continue in that profession throughout their life. He would continue in that profession throughout their life. Lura did not claim an occupation at this time. The young couple was married by Pastor Everett L Rexford who was affiliated with the Universalist Church in Columbus. The marriage he solemnized that June was the official declaration of the love these two would be known for throughout their lives. Okay, okay… I spiced up some of the wording. The last line of the third paragraph could be a bit much. However, it’s my narrative and it’s not entirely inaccurate. Also, the statement ‘the fine-looking couple…’ is my opinion. I believe them to be a fine-looking couple. I believe they complement each other with their looks. Should I remove this statement because it’s not objective? Nope. This is a statement from their great-granddaughter, supported by their daughter and Harry’s sister’s opinion. ↪️ Do you want to write a family history book? Grab your copy of this FREE Writing Guide: Step Five: Expand the Story With Parent Comparisons Again, you might look at the three paragraphs above and stop. I wanted to add one final detail to the story. When did Lura’s parents marry? Did she follow a relationship pattern of her fore-bearers? I could also include the same information for Harry, but I’ve elected to forego that information at this time. The story is focusing on Lura and the man she married. From Lura’s birth story, you may recall that her mother Emma was 16 when she married the 27-year-old Andrew Smith. Lura was 7 years older than Emma was at the time of marriage. Lura also married someone the same age, while her mother married someone 11 years her senior.  Let’s finish off this exercise by including this final piece of information. On 19 June 1907, Lura married Harry Howard Long, son of William Lester Long and Sarah Angeline Young, in Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio. The fine looking couple complimented each other with their slender builds and both sporting glasses. Harry’s sister said that Harry was a well-dressed man with gray eyes and brown hair. Though they were both 23, neither was originally from this area but had recently become residents of Columbus. As stated before, Lura was born in Michigan but moved to Columbus soon after. Harry was originally from New Haven, Huron County, Ohio. Prior to their marriage, Harry had been working as a Stenographer and then a Bookkeeper. He would continue in that profession throughout their life. He would continue in that profession throughout their life. Lura did not claim an occupation at this time. At 23, Lura was seven years older at the time of her marriage than her mother Emma, who was 16. Unlike her parents who had an 11 year age gap, Lura married Harry who was barely two months her senior. The young couple was married by Pastor Everett L Rexford who was affiliated with the Universalist Church in Columbus. The marriage he solemnized that June was the official declaration of the love these two would be known for throughout their lives. There you have it! From one fact on a chart to a four-paragraph story about the time when Harry married Lura. You will be surprised by what stories you can tell about your ancestors simply from the sources that are left behind. Have fun crafting your own stories and leave a link to your work in the comments section below.

Writing a family history about our ancestors doesn't have to be difficult. Following this birth story example, you can see how easy it is to write about your ancestors. Though I admit to following my curious nature when pursuing ancestors rather than keeping detailed research logs, I was very methodical about expanding the story of my ancestors. The process was simple enough for even the most challenging of ancestors with the fewest of documents. Let’s take a look at how I expanded the story of when my great-grandmother Lura Smith was born. Keep in mind, I have never met this ancestor but I have gathered many sources about her. Step One: Make a Simple Sentence Lura Maud Smith was born on 9 February 1884 in Bay City, Bassar, Michigan. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. The sentence is factual and rather boring. Yet, how many times do you say, “I don’t know what to write”? No more. You do not have that excuse anymore. What do you write? You start with a very simple sentence that takes the facts off the chart and adds verbs and punctuation. These 14 simple words are a great start. Step Two: Expand the Sentence to Include Parents Lura had two parents. The story of her birth should include her parents. Lura Maud Smith was born on 9 Feb 1884 in Bay City, Bay, Michigan to Andrew Nelson Smith and Emmeline “Emma” Ward. That sentence now how has 22 words and it’s still boring. I will now expand this sentence to include more information about Lura’s parents. I’ll include her parents’ ages, where they were from, and perhaps their occupation at the time of her birth. To keep the tutorial brief, I’ll state that the majority of this information was obtained from her birth record, her parent’s marriage record, and using the group sheet above. Lura Maud Smith was born on 9 Feb 1884 in Bay City, Bay, Michigan to 27 year-old Andrew Nelson Smith and 16 year-old Emmeline Ward. Emma Ward was a native of Michigan while Andrew Smith was from Central College, Delaware, Ohio. They had been married for one year prior to their daughter’s birth. The addition of these facts greatly expanded Lura’s story. I have shared a little more about her parents. Her father was much older than her mother, with the mother being 16, just into adulthood. You can now see that Emma and Andrew were from different states and had been married for one year prior to Lura’s birth. Step Three: Expand the Sentence to Discuss the Child’s Name Many cultures have naming traditions. That is not the case with Lura, but at this stage, I could expand the birth story for an ancestor if that applied. Lura, however, was often mistranscribed as Laura. Her name was often mispronounced. Future generations might appreciate knowing how to say and spell your ancestor’s name if there is a chance of possible confusion. Lura Maud Smith was born on 9 Feb 1884 in Bay City, Bay, Michigan to 27 year-old Andrew Nelson Smith and 16 year-old Emmeline Ward. Often, Lura’s name is often presented as Laura. However, Andrew and Emma did name their oldest child Lura (lʊər-ruh) not Laura (lAW-ruh). Emma Ward was a native of Michigan while Andrew Smith was from Central College, Delaware, Ohio. They had been married for one year prior to their daughter’s birth. The 14-word sentence based on a basic profile of Lura has now expanded to 75 words. And slowly the story of Lura is taking shape. Step Four: Expand the Sentence to Discuss other Children in Family So often, family histories briefly mention the siblings of ancestors and it’s such a shame. A chart could demonstrate that there are five children and your ancestor was the third among those children. What a chart does not clearly show is just how old siblings were when a child entered a family. Often, you can see age gaps on a chart, but sentences that say, the older children were separate from the middle two by 6 years and the last child by another 13 are clear. Then you can understand a phrase such as, “Mom always said she had three sets of children”. The sources for sibling information, if you’re lucky, maybe present in journals, family stories, photos, and more. If you only have group sheets, you can still comment on siblings in your ancestor’s birth story. Lura Maud Smith was born on 9 Feb 1884 in Bay City, Bay, Michigan to 27 year-old Andrew Nelson Smith and 16 year-old Emmeline Ward. Often, Lura’s name is often presented as Laura. However, Andrew and Emma did name their oldest child Lura (lʊər-ruh) not Laura (lAW-ruh). Emma Ward was a native of Michigan while Andrew Smith was from Central College, Delaware, Ohio. They had been married for one year prior to their daughter’s birth. Lura would be the couple’s only child for eight years before her brother Earl was born. Lura’s story is now 91 words and provides more perspective than an entry on a chart. Having previously gathered records about Lura and her family members, this process was relatively painless. The resources will be shared at a later date. For now, I wanted to focus on the process of writing. ↪️ Do you want to write a family history book? Grab your copy of this FREE Writing Guide: Far too often the writing process is explained in complex terms. As such, few individuals will begin crafting a family narrative because the process seems too difficult. When I broke down the writing process into simple, achievable steps, I found myself looking forward to the process with each successive ancestor. The best part was that writer’s block was rarely a challenge for me. A Family History Story Always Begins With One Paragraph Go ahead. Start writing the stories of your family members. Write a paragraph about when your ancestor was born. Don’t worry that it’s not a gripping story with rich details of the weather, setting, and so on. That can come later if you so choose. It would be far better to write something like the last paragraph when Lura was born than to not write anything at all. More Family History Story Examples How to Write a Simple Birth Story How to Write a Simple Marriage Story About Your Ancestors How to Write a Family History Wedding Story How to Write a Simple Death Story

Heritage scrapbooks that focus on one person are the easiest to create. Focal Person albums feature the person, two generations of ancestors, and two generations of descendants. To keep the size of the project manageable, I recommend creating a one-page layout of the subject’s mother and one about their father. I have a few stories and some documents about my grandmother. My photo collection shows her as a young child and into her adult life. It was hard to remind myself that I needed to keep the focus of my father’s album firmly in mind. The collection of photos will be used, only in other projects. Knowing this made creating the page for Grandma Helen Zumstein Geiszler a cinch. The newlywed photo of Grandpa Bob and Grandma Helen is just amazing. Most relatives have shared how very much in love the couple was throughout their life. This photo shows that love. I selected a second photo that shows Helen as an older woman. At the time, it was the best of my photos from her later years. The journaling highlights the basic facts of her life with some additional comments. For instance, I provided her birth date and parent information. Then I included that she was the first of her siblings born in the United States. A little detail that isn’t available on a pedigree chart or birth certificate. ↪️ Sign up for our newsletter and receive the free Writing Guide: 5 Steps to Quickly Write About Your Ancestors The journaling was a brief biographical sketch of Helen. I will have to write more about her on this blog and in a manuscript that I’m always working on. Knowing this fact allows me to keep the journaling brief on the scrapbook page. You’ll notice I added more embellishments on her page than my father’s baby page. The upper right corner could have held another photo. However, I created an embellishment block. The block has a tag with the title “My Mother.” A few flowers and additional elements, complete the look. I liked having the embellishments contained in this block. With the elements contained, they worked together to enhance the overall layout rather than compete for attention with the photos and written information on the page. Now you can see the purpose of a Mother’s Page in a focal person album. The layout is a single page. The journaling is a brief biographical sketch. You’ll want to include one or two photos to show her over time. And you can have fun with embellishments. I look forward to seeing scrapbook pages that you create about the mothers in your family tree.

If you’re not using a modern database program, you’re missing out on a powerful tool to better understand your ancestors. Rachel Dunkley explained that, "Building a timeline for each ancestor is important because you can collate your information, see gaps in your research, and observe how historical events may have impacted your ancestor’s life." While numerous tools to help you create genealogy timelines, I prefer using the built-in features in genealogy software, such as Family Tree Maker or RootsMagic. Add Content to Database I strive to ensure everyone knows what's required to make tools work. Thus, the first step to finding clues using database timelines is to fill your software with names, dates, places, and relationships. Record births, marriages, deaths, residence information (regardless of the source of that information), military service, migration, and so forth. If you can associate a date with a place, create an event for that until you have something that looks like this: While these timelines are great, the magic happens when you add the life events of family members to the list. Once you turn on the events from relatives, you will begin seeing clues you had not considered before. What's Your Genealogy Question? To find genealogy clues, you must know what questions you're trying to answer. In this case, I want to know what happened to Evaline Townley between 1881 and 1892. My second great-grandmother Evaline Townley was born on 22 October 1859. On 1 July 1892, Evaline married William Talbot Peak at the age of 32. I found Evaline in every census from birth to the end of her life. Thus, she appeared in the 1880 census before she married. She was not fortunate enough to appear in the surviving 1890 fragments, two years before her wedding. In 1875, Evaline appeared in the Cincinnati City Directory as a student. I did not find her again in city directories until 1881 without an occupation. While the 1881 city directory likely refers to her location in 1880, the biggest questions are: What happened to Evaline between 1880/1881 - 1892? Why didn't she marry until the age of 32? Timelines Suggest the Answer The first clue to consider is that Evaline's mother Anna Townley died on 24 June 1881. However, if we do not thoroughly research all of Evaline's siblings and parents, we're likely missing out on the clues that answer our question. Notice that before Anna's death, she gave birth to a child on 21 June. Unfortunately, the baby died of a hemorrhage. Three days later, Anna died, presumably from her confinement after the baby's delivery. At the time of Anna’s death, Evaline's father, Richard, was 44 years old. Evaline was 21 Her brother William was 17 Brother John was 11 and brother Harry was 3. Furthermore, William was already studying and working as a brick mason, which is his father's profession. He apparently worked with his father throughout the 1880s. They had their own brick masonry services business called Richard Townley & Son. By 1888, John worked with his father and older brother, William. The father and sons worked together until at least 1895. With her father and brothers providing the family income, who was left to care for three-year-old Harry, who no longer had a mother? It’s safe to reason that Evaline now took on the domestic duties that her mother left. If this theory holds, when her brother was old enough to care for himself, Evaline was free to marry. Thus, we could write this story: Evaline Townley, at age 32, was able to start her own family when she married William Peak on 1 July 1892. She became pregnant immediately with her daughter Evaline, born on 13 April 1893. Since William and Evaline moved to his hometown of Bellevue, Kentucky, Evaline’s father and brothers were left alone. Her brothers were now 28, 22, and 14. The youngest brother, Harry, did not take up the bricklaying profession. Instead, he was studious and was allowed to focus on his education. He eventually earned a doctorate and became the US Inspector for the Bureau of Animal Industry at the Cincinnati Union Stock Yards. Evaline was fond of her younger brother, whom she helped raise. ↪️ Check out our free family history research guides: Do You See the Benefits of Genealogy Timelines and Databases? All of this information came together because I reviewed Evaline’s timeline within a genealogy database. The database quickly let me view her life with key events of her father's and brothers' lives. It’s safe to say that someone needed to care for Harry. One could speculate that the burden would fall upon Evaline. Further support for this speculation is that Evaline would name one of her children after her younger brother, presumably the one she helped raise. Additionally, other family resources indicate her great fondness for her brother Harry. Looking at the timelines that included family life events helped me discover why a strong connection must exist. I could only have easily made this connection with the help of the timelines in RootsMagic or Family Tree Maker. However, remember I said to thoroughly research the lives of all of Evaline's relatives - namely her father and brothers? A new addition to the timeline is turning my assumptions on it's head. It's time to research the new addition and perhaps Evaline's extended family, namely her aunts, uncles, and cousins, to see whether the 22-year-old lived in the home with her stepmother and how that might change Evaline's story. Continue Your Genealogy Education Journey With These Tips Get MORE CLUES From Genealogy Records Are You Mapping Out Your Research Problems? Using Spreadsheets for Genealogy Research