My Footprint - Bringing Family History To Life

IMAGE: Genealogist Robyn Atherton has created a booklet to help people get a headstart on recording their family history.

Have you embarked on a family history only to learn that your ancestors weren’t the kind that kept convenient records?

Local genealogist Robyn Atherton has devised a booklet that can help you make the search so much easier for your descendants when their time comes.

“When you’re doing family history research you find that most people didn’t write things down,” Mrs Atherton said.

“There were things I started talking with my dad about that I knew nothing about. Encourage people to write about themselves in some capacity and put it aside for your family.”

Mrs Atherton said that writing down things like who your friends were when you were at school, your favourite colour or food, what you enjoyed doing, the music you listened to and whether you did any military service could make the task of researching family members and history so much easier.

We use the internet and old newspapers in the main when we are researching family history. If you told someone, or wrote down, that you were a tennis champion that is information that could be entered into a search engine and possibly yield some tangible information.

Perhaps you have a family member living with dementia - in which case you might be able to work through the book together because people with dementia tend to recall earlier memories far greater than their most recent experiences.

Who knows what you might learn?

Mrs Atherton has been working as a genealogist for a few years and did a Diploma in Family Historical Studies from the Society of Australian Genealogists.

The booklet, My Footprint was first released around five years ago and was well received, so she updated it and gave it a new cover for Family History Month back in August.

Its A5 size makes it easy to pop into an envelope and send to family members so that you can all start recording the imprint your family has made in your society. Remember to include political, genetic and health information. The booklet has sections to help you along the way.

You can purchase a copy from Harden Post Office, Harden CWA Rooms and WhichCraft and Coffee Cottage at Murrumburrah for just $5.

You can also order copies directly from Mrs Atherton by emailing robynatherton@bigpond.com or phoning 0428 516 403.