Family History Writing Prompts

What Are Writing Prompts?

Before we launch into some of the most suitable writing prompts for family history storytelling we should first address what exactly the term means. A writing prompt is an introduction and focus point for a writing topic. The point of a prompt is to guide the writer with a question that requires an answer with the intent they reach a conclusion in a creative literary way.

Writing prompts for family history purposes can focus on many different questions and stages of your family tree. They may create interesting pieces that can become part of a family history book or simply serve as a creative writing exercise to improve your abilities.

Family History Writing Prompt Ideas

1. Picture yourself as one of your own descendants and right about yourself as if you were them

This is an interesting potential exercise which allows you to write about someone you indeed know better than anyone else. As an exercise in writing it makes you try to think about how your descendants may view who you were. In turn it may enlighten you as to the best way to view your own ancestors.

2. As a journalistic exercise write about an event in your ancestor's history as if for a newspaper

Having gathered details about an ancestor you may find they did something of note which might even be considered newsworthy. A great writing exercise is to try and view your research as if it were for a newspaper article.

The interesting aspect of this is considering the use of quotes from relatives who told you about the event and adding in the facts that your genealogical research turned up. As an example you may have an ancestor who faced a legal issue which is documented in old legal records. Imagine yourself an independent and objective journalist writing the details up as news.

3. Write about your family's ancestral traditions

After many generations in a new land a family's traditions may tend to wane as the younger generations assimilate to the local customs. If this is the case with your family you may want to consider writing a piece regarding the traditions your family still holds on to.

Additionally you can find out from older family members about traditions they remember as well looking into the rituals that your original immigrant ancestors likely took part in. The ultimate goal is to gather an understanding of the traditions your ancestors brought to where you love now and how many of those traditions have survived.

4. Take a notable event in your family's history and rewrite the ending

This is a creative writing exercise that allows us to imagine how our family may be different today if an ancestor had made a different decision in their life. A great grandfather may have joined the army and been killed but what if he had not done so? Would the influence of this ancestor being in your grandparent's life for longer have changed the course of things?

5. Script a conversation between yourself and your earliest known ancestor

This is an interesting prompt that begs the question: what would you ask your ancestor if you could meet them in person? The creative element comes in when you try and imagine how they would answer your questions.

Writing with this prompt allows you to imagine the type of person your ancestor was. It may not be accurate but the things we learn about these ancestors do give us a glimpse into character.

6. Write a letter to an ancestor

What if we could send a letter back through time to an ancestor? What would we say? Perhaps we could thank them for laying the basis for the family we are part of. It could be a reporting of what has happened in the family who their descendants became and perhaps why they should take pride in this.

7. What was your ancestor's general diet?

This is an interesting project as it may require some research regarding the types of food available to your chosen ancestor. You may know they were farmers and kept certain types of animals some of which may have been on the menu.

There may have been traditional dishes the recipes of which have been handed down through the generations. The key is to try and describe the food your ancestor may have eaten throughout a single day.

8. Write your surname origin

Family names or surnames became common back in the 15^th and 16^th centuries for monarchal taxation purposes. They were used with a given name to uniquely identify the taxpayers. Surnames usually have a meaning or origin which has been recorded in history.

The key here is to research both the meaning and if possible a geographic origin for the name. You may find that the name originates geographically from an area where you know you had ancestors. In fact some Italian immigrants can trace their surnames to a specific town or village of the same name.

9. Write down the family's craziest story

Recount to your understanding having likely heard several versions of the same story, an account of the family's wackiest and most unique story. This may be from recent generations or a story from long ago. For example, my wife's family has a story about the family farm being visited by the Lincoln family on their way to Illinois in which young Abe was gifted a coat because he was ill equipped for winter that far north.

10. What would your ancestors have worn?

This is an interesting exercise that combines social status, ethnic fashions and the availability of certain clothes during historical time periods. You may have pictures of your early ancestors so you can describe the things they tended to wear.

A little fashion history research may help you put names to the fashions and may even allow you to learn more about your ancestors' social and financial standing within their community.

11. What are your family's naming practices?

Certain cultures have very specific naming practices with regards to passing down family given names generation after generation. Write about any obvious or explicitly understood naming practices your family have used in the past. Perhaps you yourself are a 4^th or 5^th of a certain name or perhaps there is a tradition of alternate uses of a name for several generations.

12. How would an ancestor respond to something from the modern day?

This is an interesting exercise where you may want to imagine yourself as your 18^th century ancestor and imagine how they would react to an iPhone, a car, an airplane or some other piece of technology they couldn’t even imagine.

You will have the chance to try and place your thinking in the more simplistic and rudimentary world of your ancestors and imagine what the modern world would look like to them.

13. Write a letter as if you were your ancestor

Try to place yourself in the world of your ancestor and write a letter from them to whomever you choose. It may be a contemporary of their time or perhaps make it to one of their descendants. The point is to imagine what they might talk about, who was important to them and what worries they may express.

14. Write a short story about how two ancestors came together and married

You may discover two of your ancestors working unmarried in the same household and you know that they ultimately wed each other. Write a short story of how they met, fell in love and ended up married. We may never know the real stories but we can be creative and infer to a degree how and when our ancestral couples met and fell in love.

15. Write 5 life lessons your family history research has taught you

This is a simple project; as we work through our family history we see the successes and mistakes our ancestors may have made. These may have given us an insight into things they probably had to learn the hard way.

Write down 5 life lessons your ancestors experience have taught you and explain the stories that led you to discovering these

16. If you were to write a novel based on your family history what genre would you choose?

If you have ever toyed with the concept of writing a novel based on your family history research what literary genre would you choose? Perhaps it could be a romance, a thriller, a crime novel or something else. Decide what genre your family story might fall into

17. Write about a family heirloom

If you are fortunate enough to be in possession of a family heirloom try and write a history of its journey through the years. Who may have purchased it and why and how was it handed down? Was it used during important family milestones or did it at least bear witness? This can be a practical narrative or seen from the viewpoint of this inanimate object.

18. How would two ancestors from different periods have interacted

This is an extension of the concept of personally meeting an ancestor. In this prompt you are asked to take what you know of two ancestors who never met but were part of your family line and write about how they would interact. What would they talk about and what stories would they tell each other?

19. Describe your ancestor's walk to work

You may have learned from your research that an ancestor lived in one place and worked in another. They may have had to walk several miles a day to and from work. With this prompt you will try and use historical understanding of an area to try and describe that walk. You will describe the sights and sounds and potential smells they may have encountered.

20. Describe your ancestor as an author might describe a character in a book

A good author adds as much vibrant description of their character's physical appearance and their personality as possible. Try to achieve this from old pictures of your ancestors and the things you have learned about them in your research. Create the best author's description of your chosen ancestor.

Final Thoughts

Creative writing is not only a great outlet but it also allows us to view things from a new perspective. In this post we have looked at 20 interesting prompts that can help you flex your writing skills in relation to your genealogical research. It may even help you place your thinking in the mindset of an ancestor you never had the chance to meet in person.

Neil Edwards

Genealogist and family-tree research specialist

Neil was born in Shropshire, England surrounded by centuries of living history. His interest in the past has been a lifelong passion leading to undergraduate degrees in both Economic History & Geography and History & Politics.

This interest in history quickly translated to family history when he moved to the U.S. in 2010. It was here that he began working on his own family tree as well as that of his American wife. That research allowed him to gain a wealth of experience working with both U.S. and European genealogical documents and studying their best uses in researching family history.

Following 9 years of honing his genealogical research skills, Neil was proud to have earned a certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University in late 2019. Neil also took part in the research process for a Duke University study into the families of 19th Century UK Members of Parliament.

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