Making The Dash Come Alive

 

On a day like today—Thanksgiving in the United States—when we're surrounded by generations of family members, a genealogist's thoughts may turn to sharing stories. There is, however, a knack to that. We either become the instigator of stifled yawns and rolling eyes, or the inspiration that sparks interest in family history. It all comes down to discovering ways to make the stories from our family's past come alive for future generations.

The most succinct representation of an ancestor may be the stark image of a headstone: name and dates of birth and death, separated by a dash. When we focus on cataloguing those names and dates—though vital to document for a genealogist's task—we can't be surprised by the yawns. But when we set our sights on that dash between the dates, that's what brings those ancestors to life for our audience.

Ancestors, really, are just like us. They had dreams of a good life. They had times to celebrate. And they endured dark times and struggles and perhaps even doubts that they would make it through. The scenery might have been different, the setting more sparse, the supporting cast a bit different than ours. Imagining ourselves in such situations as those can evoke feelings that might not be different than what those ancestors did feel.

To put it another way, we can relate. And that's what helps us make their dash come alive again in the minds of those who take time to think about them.