52 stories for families

If you’ve used #52Stories to write your personal history, try #52Stories for families to help you record your family’s story, one question at a time. These weekly questions will get the conversation going so you and your family can discuss and preserve your most precious memories. At the end of the year, you’ll have a collection of the stories that have shaped your family and strengthened your relationships.

1. What are some of your family’s greatest accomplishments—things you worked together to achieve?
2. What family goals are or were you forever setting, whether or not you actually achieved them?
3. What are the biggest obstacles you’ve overcome together as a family?
4. What are some crises, natural disasters, or other tragedies that you had to pull together to get through?
5. What are the parameters that define “success” in your family, whether financial, occupational, educational, religious, familial, etc.?
6. What are some of the inside jokes that no one outside your family understands?
7. What fictional family—anywhere in books, movies, or television—most closely resembles your family and why?
8. What movies or books are frequently talked about or quoted in your family?
9. How does your family tend to show their love for one another—perhaps through acts of service, gifts, saying it out loud, humor, hugs and physical affection, etc.?
10. What are some of the physical traits that make it obvious your family members are all related to one another?
11. What are some of the personality traits that run in your family—quiet, loud, adventurous, reserved, hilarious, serious, courageous, cautious, faithful, skeptical, fun-loving, hard-working, etc.
12. Are there any occupations that have run in your family for generations?
13. Are there any hobbies or common interests that run in your family?
14. What are the most common pastimes that your family enjoys together—sports, outdoor activities, board games, music, plays, movies, cooking, swapping stories?
15. What songs would be on your family’s soundtrack—the songs that everyone knows the words to?
16. What meals would be in your family’s cookbook—the foods that make you feel nostalgic for your childhood or for home?
17. What are some of the meals and cooking traditions that have been passed down from generation to generation?
18. Which of your maternal grandmother’s physical and personality traits can you identify in her children and grandchildren?
19. Which of your maternal grandfather’s physical and personality traits can you identify in his children and grandchildren?
20. Which of your paternal grandmother’s physical and personality traits can you identify in her children and grandchildren?
21. Which of your paternal grandfather’s physical and personality traits can you identify in his children and grandchildren?
22. What old family stories are most often told at family gatherings?
23. What are some of the quotes, proverbs, sayings, or aphorisms your family members repeat often?
24. What are some unique colloquialisms, phrases, made-up words, and mispronunciations your family is known for?
25. What are some of your family’s core values?
26. As you’ve looked at your family compared to other families, what makes yours unique, different, or special?
27. Does your family have deep roots in a particular place? How has that place impacted your family story?
28. How many different cities or towns has your family called home?
29. What other families have been particularly influential to your family—cousins, friends, neighbors, in-laws?
30. What was your family’s most frequent vacation destination?
31. What are the most memorable vacations your family has ever taken together?
32. Who are some of the nonrelatives who have played a significant role in your family memories—neighbors, teachers, religious leaders, coaches, community leaders?
33. Who are some of the most interesting characters you know about from your family history?
34. How has military service or involvement in foreign wars affected your family dynamics, past and present?
35. What are some of the major life events that pushed your family in a new direction and brought you where you are today?
36. What are some of the historical events (wars, emigration, natural disasters, etc.) that have had a significant impact on your family history?
37. How has faith played a role in your family history? What religious traditions influenced your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and beyond?
38. What traditions did your family observe around Christmastime?
39. What traditions and rituals do you remember surrounding the start of a new school year?What were some of your family’s birthday and anniversary traditions?
40. Did your family celebrate any obscure holidays or cultural traditions?
41. What are the heirlooms, objects, and keepsakes that hold special meaning for your family?
42. Does your family have any specific traditions for funerals, Memorial Day, or otherwise commemorating loved ones who have passed on?
43. What are some of the names that have been passed down through multiple generations of your family?
44. Does your family follow any unique naming conventions, such as being called by a middle name, naming children after ancestors, inventing completely unique names, having all names start with the same letter, etc.?
45. What are some of the most unique names that can be found in your family tree? (Try Baby Ancestry to find out.)
46. Who are the most famous ancestors that can be found in your family tree? (Try Relative Finder to find out.)
47. What are some of the charitable, political, or environmental causes your family fought for, donated to, volunteered for, or continue to support?
48. What makes your family laugh? Share some of the funniest stories or events that bring a smile to everyone’s faces.
49. Thinking of your family of origin, what were the differences between your dad’s side of the family and your mom’s side that had to be reconciled within your nuclear family? (Affluent vs. middle class, reserved vs. outgoing, religious vs. secular, Republican vs. Democrat, etc.)
50. Fill in the blank with as many different words as you can: “We come from a long line of ______________________.”
51. What are the values that you hope to see passed down to future generations of your family?

Pioneers

taken from Three Things the Oregon Trail Game Didn't Teach You about the Pioneers

Players of The Oregon Trail will remember that encountering a river was risky. Paying for the ferry was expensive—but trying to ford it yourself could result in the loss of valuable supplies or party members. Still, most players agonized over the choice for less than a minute.

While fording rivers in The Oregon Trail game is a quick decision, that wasn’t the case for the pioneers. They faced the same challenge: pay the toll for a ferry or find another way across—and maybe lose your life, your livelihood, or your family in the process. Pioneers who attempted to cross rivers on their own spent a great deal of time planning and preparing.

To cross, some pioneers would caulk their wagons, dismantle them, and use the wagon box as a makeshift boat. Caulking and self-ferrying was not preferred, as it was slow and arduous. Others would lash felled trees together to make a raft, although this was one of the most dangerous options a family could take. These attempts at fording rivers cost the lives of many pioneers and their livestock.

Did one of your ancestors cross with the pioneers? Let's find out!

Utah Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database, 1847-1868

Learn about pioneer life on the trail, foods eaten, games played, etc here. 
With a little family history exploration, you can find pioneers with remarkable, inspiring stories among your very own relatives.

photo find

Mark Haines shared the following story with me as I was teaching him how to attach photos to memories:
Mark used to be a professional photographer.  His grandfather was too.  After his grandpa died, they were cleaning out his building.  There were lots of photography magazines and the like that Mark started throwing into the trash.  But there were so many, that he decided it would be easier to just dump everything onto a large tarp and then haul it out to the dumpster.
Mark starting throwing stuff onto the tarp when he came across a parcel wrapped in brown parchment paper tied up with a string.  "If no one has needed this in 30 years," he reckoned, "we don't need it now."  And so he tossed the package into the pile.  He continued to discard items when an impression came to him, "If someone went to all the time and effort to put that package together, don't you think you should at least look inside it?"  Mark searched for the package and pulled it out of the discard pile.  Then carefully opening it he discovered the contents: photos of his grandparents and great-grandparents, aunts and uncles - most of which were labeled and preserved in this package.
He shed a tear as he recounted the tale.  He knew the Spirit had been prompting him to retrieve a valuable keepsake in his family legacy.  He still has many of those photos to this very day.