WRITING IT SO THEY READ IT: How I’m Bringing Family History to Generation Y

I set myself a bit of a challenge lately when I decided to create a family history specifically for my two sons, age 28 and 25. Neither of them likes to read. Neither has a big interest in history, family or otherwise. But they do like hearing me tell stories of the ancestors I’ve discovered: the inventors, heroes, and adventurers they descend from.

I knew right away that writing a book for them, while great fun for me, would be a spectacular failure in the end because they wouldn’t read it. So I started thinking about what they would want to know, and how I could best package it.

Right away, I realized two things:

1. Any data has to be directly related to them, and anchored in family members they know. So the working title of this project is “YOU!” and I use that pronoun in everything I present to them. I also use their four grandparents as the “roots” for the branches of the family.
2. Everything has to be delivered to their phones. This is, of course, how they are used to getting information.

I write short, illustrated pieces that I know will catch their interest: any link to hockey; ancestors who farmed near their beloved Muskoka cottage; members of the military in addition to the cousin they know well.

This picture tells them of their nationalities: Your Nationalities pdf

Two short essays give snapshots of what each of the four branches of the family were up to in 1909 and 1927 – the first and last times the Ottawa Senators won the Stanley Cup.

Of course, it takes a long time to put together all the research necessary for one of these one- or two-page history bursts. But I love nothing more than kneading raw data into something interesting… providing a glimpse of people’s lives from the distant past in a way that these “millennial” boys of mine will relate to.

I send out a new installment of “YOU!” about every month or six weeks. So far, the return emails have lots of exclamation marks, usually following “awesome, Mom”.

To other genealogists I say, “Know your audience. The rewards are many!”