To feel a bit sad to realise I am the keeper of most/all of this information?

[grenlei]

When I was a child my mum would talk to me all the time about her childhood, her extended family, life in post war London, and then growing up in the 1950s-60s. I was blessed with a good memory (got me through school and uni with minimal effort!) so even now many years on can remember a lot of this.

My mum sadly died over 20 years ago when I was 21; of her siblings, only 3 (in their 70s/80s) are still alive, and 2 of those didn't have any children. I'm an only child; my cousins have little or no knowledge of our family history, and even my mum's siblings don't remember half the stuff I do. At a recent family gathering one family member was asking some family questions that I was able to answer, but others I couldn't (although I know my mum would have been able to).

It just makes me sad that it's all going to be lost. There's nothing massively earth shattering, it's just life and memories, connections to big events - a relative was at the Battle of Cable St for example, but my children are not interested at all (I've always loved history so a bit different for me) and no one else seems to be either.

I guess it's the case for all families sooner or later so I probably am BU!

When I was about 10, we had to do a family tree. That involved me talking to my grandparents and getting the names of their parents and grandparents and all their siblings. It was extensive.
I've lost it over the years along with the history and the names of all involved. I'd speak to your elderly aunts/uncles and get the names of their parents (including maiden names of women) and build up a tree. Then have a separate document with anecdotes about any member involved. Keep it locked up and don't lose it and pass it on to your dc when they're old enough.

A lot of my ancestor's on both sides emigrated to America (some never to be heard of again). They absolutely LOVE info like this and would be very interested. They might also fill in gaps for you.

If you prefer digital, do a powerpoint doc, but start out with you at the bottom and work up from that on an A3 page (glue together pages if a lot of siblings involved etc.) and you'll have a lovely real document to pass on.

There are also some groups for certain surnames that meet up occasionally (maybe every 5 - 10 years).

Another one saying to write it all down or if your parents etc are alive but writing memoirs then ask to have a look at them.

My DGF on my DM's side was brought up in Germany before WW2 and for various reasons (having a British DF and German DM) eventually moved to England in his early 20s. His spoken memories were far more flowery, romanticised, cheerful and well recounted generally than his written detailed memoirs which my DM and I are currently typing onto a PC and which he typed on an old typewriter. It's such a shame that so many emotional things happened (bullying by teachers, local people etc, not by kids strangely enough) and he kept this bottled up.

My DGM (DGF's DW) also typed her memoirs and would recount them to us too but it's fascinating the actual detail in her memoirs too - I know e.g. that her family was the first in the street to get a Cat's Whisker radio and also the first car but I had no idea what they listened to or where they went in the car or how both these changed their lives - it just seemed as though they were status symbols. The scandals in the street happened when her own DP still lived there - it was just round the corner from where Christie murdered all those women and babies and my DGM used to tell me about this with a gleam in her eye even though she herself had moved away years later! I wish I'd known as LanternLights said to find out what their favourite party dresses, toys, food was etc but I think they didn't think we'd find this interesting.

Self publishing a book is a good idea but you can also or a distant relative had someone record my DGF speaking a spoken history, not sure how. Lots of museums including e.g. the Jewish museum or Museum of London have archives or exhibitions which you can view.

with my DGM I recall when she was in her early 80's we drove up to Ladbroke Grove with a friend of hers where she was brought up as a child and we went for a walk, drink in the pub, tea and cake in a cafe etc and she remembered the old streets and even some of the old shops which had now been changed - some of course had been changed but this brought back lots of fond memories for her.

I write other people's stories for them (ghostwriter) but I've never done my own. I have no siblings and am the only child at all on one side. I've written so many memoirs for other people and not one of them has regretted it - not sure why I'm putting mine off, because when I go, it all goes (have told my kids some, but not the same as writing it). Definitely go for it OP - and the Ancestry tree if you have time. Good luck!

Dh's Grandad wrote his "life history" my MIL typed it up for him and they went to a place where it was copied and spiral bound, he gave everyone in the family a copy at his 85th birthday.

It is an incredible read, all about his childhood in Scotland, his parents owned a shop, he talks about his school experience and later he was in the RAF in WWII and he recalls the days he became a civilian again and his job after that. It is a lovely piece of family history.

@Redraptor

My mum loves this kind of thing, shes done a huge family tree and has boxes and boxes of stuff. Shes so interested and it's great but she makes me feel so guilty for not being interested. She says she'll give it all to me one but I dont want it. I do feel awful but I'm just not interested

It's fine not to be interested. But, if you have DC or nephews & nieces, please keep at least some of it, even if it's only a few highlights. They may love them.

We’re trying to persuade my Uncles (late 80s and early 90s) to write down their memories of being evacuated from Singapore during WW2. I wish I’d written down more of what DGM told me but it didn’t occur to me how wonderful it would be to have that all as a teenager when she was telling me. It’s just snippets but the uncles still have their collective marbles and could really bring it alive. Must nudge my cousins again!

Yes it's sobering how quickly we are forgotten, isn't it. Just 2-3 generations and all someone may remember is your name, if that. But that's the way it is.

Personally I wouldn't be interested in reading something like that as go back 3-4 generations and you are hardly even related really, the connection is so diluted. I'd rather just read some history book or novel set in that time if I was interested in what it was like back then.

@grenlei can I suggest starting an online family tree. My family uses Geni, it's collaborative and you end up finding and connecting with others' trees to create one huge one. On each entry, folk collect artefacts and family stories. It's a really lovely thing to do, emotional sometimes.

Please write it all down - I'm in a similar position, I've always loved stories, and I paid a lot of attention to what my parents and aunt and uncle told me about their lives during WWII, and the stories their parents told them; now that they've all passed away, all the knowledge my aunt in particular had from researching our family tree back to the early 1800s will be lost if one of us doesn't write it down soon. She got back to the very late 1790s, and discovered an Irish great-grandparent none of us knew about it.

I also know a family friend has lots of photos, and I'm thinking of asking her if we could get them scanned so they're not lost. On my dad's side everyone is also long gone, so if my younger sister and I don't do something to preserve the knowledge it'll be gone.

I've always thought social history is far more interesting than having to learn the flippin' names of the numerous wives of Henry VIII and how he despatched them all, one way or another....(it's one of my bugbears since school, in case you can't guess). I think I like social history as it's about most of us, very ordinary people living very ordinary lives.

I’ve been doing mine and DH’s family trees for about 12 years now and my DC’s currently have no interest. I’m also conscious of lots of family history being lost as older generations die so.......
I’ve bought a fancy album/scrapbook, which is primarily for old family photos but I’ve also started to include stories in it - ‘Nanna’s Teaset’, ‘Grandad’s Tank’, ‘Great Grandad’s Clay Pipe’.
Although I have my family tree on Ancestry, I have also created individual spreadsheets for family members which contain lots more relevant personal details. I print these and keep them in lever arch files along with BMD certificates and other interesting papers.
I’ve recently been looking at my Grandad’s WW2 record and obtained the War Diaries for his regiment. I’ve also printed these and store them in a file.
My DC’s are aware of my files and album - having been ‘forced’ to look at them and have been instructed not to throw them away when I die 😀
Sorry to have droaned on so much but losing all that history really worries me too.

I'd be fascinated to read an account of the Battle of Cable Street and I'm not related to you! Forget about the family for the time being and document it anyway. There are loads of east London community Facebook pages and groups full of people who love learning about local history. Post your blog there.

There's a good chance your grandchildren/other relatives will appreciate it one day too.

This is what my grandfather felt in the 1970s. He had seen his country transformed from an archaic rural community where children could be auctioned off at poorhouse auctions (he narrowly escaped) to a modern welfare state. He had learnt skills as a child which would never be required again. He had memories that nobody would have again. So he wrote it down. And he also recorded it. Somewhere I have a DVD (copied from a tape) with my grandfather's voice telling those memories.

I have just heard that my mother is doing the same. My father had promised to but I am afraid he is getting too old. Don't leave it too long, OP!

Go for it OP!

Write it down so you don't forget and pass it on to one of your children/grandchildren for them to pass it on to someone in the family when the time comes.

My grandmother talked to me about a lot of stuff that I know now her own children were not aware of. I wish I had written it down as I have forgotten quite a lot of details since she told me all these stories 30 years ago. The little that I remember is now part of the family and an extra thing that bind the 50+ of us together. :-)

Make it into a book like the Wedding albums sites do. It would be wonderful. My aunt scrapbooked and gave each of her children one about their life and family tales. They were beautiful. She had eight children living three had died at different ages and were included in siblings books.A very good photographer processed old photos so she could have copies. I went when visiting to the class and she had a photo ready for me of my Nanna and she told me things while we were making the page. No one does it here. I could see why she liked going as it was company for her too.She has sadly died but her books live on for her great grandchildren. I forgot to say she made one for each of her grandchildren and had started on the greats.

It would make a wonderful present if you did it.

I absolutely love finding out about family history, always have since I was a child.
I suppose I look at it that without those people before me I wouldn’t be here now so I owe it to them to make sure they are remembered.

Thanks everyone, you have really cheered me up.

I want to log stuff for my dad too because there is no one to remember that at all apart from me, I have no idea what happened to the rest of his family (there might still be some distant relatives somewhere). He led a fascinating life, fought in WW2, sold knock off gear in the West End in that post war era, in the 50s and 60s ran his own business which made (and lost) a fortune.

Much the same here I did hear a fair old bit about WW2 as my old dad was an armourer on Hurricanes and Spitfires at Duxford in the battle of Britian and my uncle as a mechanic who kept the kites flying to ward of the Luftwaffe! That very big setto on the 15th Battle of britian day was 80 years ago yesterday and theres only one of Churchills few left alive now at 101 years old bless him:)

What happened after that well the yanks turned up and my ratrher serious aunt was at that time dispensing "favours" no prizes for guessing what they were!, to the Yank service men they it seems all looked like film stars but for many of the poor saps it was their first and only time with a woman as next day they wouldnt come home from the bombing raids over Germany and all were so young barely into their 20's some still teens!

Mind you they were resented by the brits as they were;

Overpaid, Oversexed, and over here!

Seems tho they did bring with them packs of Nylons and at that time that was like giving a girl an iphone 21 !! all intresting as was the family tree that came to light recnelty Justa is descended from a distingushed line of peasants, english and Irish!!

I doubt many of the MN contributers would habe liked to have bene pregnant all theri linves were seems back in the 1600's 1700 and onwards were many preggers many still borns any infants died in their ealry years and only a couple of the 14 -17 odd children would make it though to adulthood!

Ah! cable street save you looking it up could easily happened again!!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cable_Street

I hear you!
I'm last woman standing in my mums branch of the family. I am an only child of an only child of an only child. I have 5 generations of family photos. At some point I'm going to donate them to the record office where cousins many times removed might be able to access them.
The stories of mine and my mum's past I'll write down for my children incase they're interested when they're older.
I find it disturbing that I'm the only person alive who remembers anything about my childhood.

Wasn't Jeanette Walls in the same position as OP when she wrote Half Broke Horses? Memoir of her grandmother's life, as told thru family stories with fictional parts to fill in (and a good read it is, too).

100th vote for write it down! You’d be surprised later down the line someone in your family will be interested. I took my Granny to see an exhibition about the life of a famous poet who she grew up with as a child. There was of photos of old neighbours, their class at school, artefacts relating to the poems based on their childhood. It was amazing hearing the stories that it prompted from her. I loved it. Of course being Irish there was loads of history about the second third and fourth cousin of everyone pictured too!

Ancestry.com is a great place to store all of this information and more.
you can add notes to individuals or write up whole stories and save them.
Don't worry about adding the personal information of people who are still living. Ancestry will keep everyone private and only you can see them until you add a date of death.
but even then you can opt to keep your tree private and no one but you (or people you invite to view)can see it.
I wasn't interested in this stuff as a young adult, not many are, but they will be one day.
Ancestry is free for 2 weeks but then ca be expensive - £180 ish for a year. but if you are interested DM me and i will send you a discount code.

When an old person dies, a library burns down.

A few years ago, I took two of my adult children and their partners to the place my father was born on the 100th anniversary of his birth. He died when I was expecting them, so they never knew him. We walked a ruined walled garden where he would have played while my grandfather worked, looked at the distant mountains he would have seen and I told them his stories of a turbulent piece of history. We cracked a bottle of bubbles and toasted him. It was also the 100th anniversary of the revolution that brought independence to the country of his birth. I know they'll remember.

It's all you can do in the end.