THE PRACTICALITIES OF WRITING ANCESTOR STORIES
'Biography is one of the most popular and widely read literary genres. It can also be controversial, scandalous, and hotly debated.'[1]
Taken from the Greek bios, ‘life’ and graphia, ‘writing’ the literal meaning of biography is ‘life writing’. The definition in the Oxford English Dictionary of 2001 is ‘an account of someone's life written by someone else’. Nowhere is this truer than in the field of family history! Posts on social media, readers’ letters in the ‘Dear Paul’ column and the growing appetite for historical research-based television all suggest that the retelling of ancestor stories is more popular than ever.
More awareness of social and economic history is adding depth and context to many ancestral narratives. But the surge of interest in ancestor homes is also helping to place individuals within immersive historical settings. In his interview with editor Helen Tovey for the October magazine, Professor David Olusoga OBE, presenter of ‘A House through Time’, spoke about empowering voices from the past. Comparing it to family history, he says the quest is