Cultural Blip Hobby - Family History

Reading aside, the hobby I have enjoyed most is Genealogy or Family History. I prefer the term Family History as genealogy feels to me like a list of dates and events and Family History is so much more. Certainly the dates and events are important but when researching Family History, you are looking at the people and how they lived in the context of their families, their communities and the wider world. It is often known as ‘putting the flesh on the bones’.

I began researching our Family History around 1990 as something to interest my elderly Father after he became a widower for the third time. Dad had come to New Zealand as a sixteen year old orphan from Northampton in England. His early memories of his home and family were very important to him and I enjoyed hearing the stories as he reminisced. Researching Family History hooked us both in and I am still involved with it today. Even now when I download interesting information, for example the WW1 personal records for my Grandfather, I think how much my Dad would have enjoyed reading them.

In more recent times, I have extended my interest in Family History to Genetic Genealogy, using DNA testing to discover more distant and unknown relatives. Each one you discover adds more to the wider family story with stories, photos or mementos that have come down their ancestral lines plus the pleasure of getting to know new people that you can call cousin.

Today’s Blip is all about Family History. The Photo Books have been recently made so the old photos of which I am custodian can be shared around the wider family.  Some of these items were very useful for research purposes such as the Autograph Book, Birthday Book and cards. Other items support family stories such as the Boer War medal and cap badge, the card and pencil made from a bullet and given to soldiers in WW1 by Princess Mary, Grandfathers watch, or are of sentimental value such as my Mothers first pair of glasses.

These are all representative of my hobby of Researching Family History and are ‘putting flesh on the bones’.