Saving Lulu
This Thanksgiving Encourage Relatives to Write their Life Stories for Posterity
I only met Lulu, my great-grandmother, once. I was in grade school when she and her husband visited us in Wisconsin briefly. I do not recall anything about the visit or about her.
Several decades later, I was in the throes of researching my family tree. After compiling a long list of relatives’ dates of birth and death and whatever additional nuggets I could find, I had just about exhausted the resources on Ancestry.com.
Lulu had died in 1975. I knew she was the mother of my grandmother, Gladys, but I did not know anything about her as a person.
In an effort to find every last bit of information on the public record as my tree research wound down, I subscribed to a database of old newspapers. What I learned amazed me, not just regarding Lulu but several others.
In those days, small town newspapers often wrote about the social activities of ordinary residents. These brief blurbs revealed a bit about the lifestyle of the person behind the name.
I discovered, for instance, that Lulu wrote poems and original piano compositions, entertained at organizations by playing piano, was president of a women’s group, was socially active, and often traveled to Wisconsin to visit her daughters and other relatives after moving to Nevada.
In addition, Lulu offered ongoing hospitality to her nephews, whose mother had died in Wisconsin when the children were quite young. As an adult, one nephew moved to Nevada, lived for a time with Lulu and her husband, and got married at their home.
I knew none of this until I subscribed to the newspaper database. The mentions of Lulu’s activities were a major leap toward filling out her personality and interests.
Unfortunately, social coverage of ordinary people no longer occurs. Many of these newspapers no longer exist.
A second source of windfall-type information — telephone books that listed the occupations of every person — also no longer exists.
To my knowledge, these were the only sources of information on the public record, aside from a few news stories, that provided clues about the lifestyle and interests of deceased individuals.
In an ideal world, Lulu would have written her own life story for posterity. Without doing so, she was in danger of being forgotten, except as a name in the family tree.
A half century after her death, only three or four people who ever met her are still alive. I am one of them but I did not know anything about her.
My research rescued the real Lulu, who had an actual life with varied interests and relationships, from oblivion. But it was a fluke since very few people conduct this kind of family tree research. Think of all the ”Lulus” who have been forgotten within a few generations.
If you are among millions gathering with extended family at Thanksgiving, take a notebook or tape recorder. Interview a few relatives about their lives. Ask them to write their life stories before it’s too late. Rescue someone from oblivion.
The easiest way to write your life story is to begin with the day of your birth and proceed from memory decade-by-decade. For more information subscribe for free at maureensantini.substack.com/subscribe
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.