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When interviewing family members, some advance preparation will help you obtain useful and interesting information. While an interview is just a planned conversation, some of the following hints may be useful in ensuring a successful, informative and pleasant discussion. • Prepare questions in advance. Organizing your thoughts is the best way to start, and answers will lead to more questions. Pursue specific answers if information is not clear. • If your relative speaks a different language, find someone to assist with translation or interpretation in advance. Make sure to introduce your interpreter at the start of the interview. • Do not rely on your memory. Familiarize yourself with the use of a videocam or tape recorder; bring extra batteries. If your relative is uncomfortable with a recorder, take careful and extensive notes. Transcribe right after the interview so you don't lose details you might have neglected to write down. • Start with more recent questions and work your way back in time. This will make it easier for the interviewee to recall information and help give them more confidence. • Photographs will often spark memories. Ask to see your relative's photo collection, or bring yours to show. Ask for identifications of the faces in the photos, establish their relationships. Have enlarged photocopies of your photos to record information directly on the image. • Ask about family traditions. Remember not to interrupt the interviewee. Let him or her tell the story. • Keep sessions to a reasonable length, 45 minutes is plenty. Have tea or water available. • Keep your interviewee relaxed and comfortable. It may sometimes be frustrating or difficult for them to remember, so ask if the interviewee needs a break at regular intervals. • Pursue this direct initial research as far back as possible.
There are thousands of LDS churches and family history centers around the world. Many have resources on site or on your behalf can send requests to Salt lake city to have microfilms of family history data sent in for you to view in the center or church.
In your search for the family history, ‘cast your net wide’. Local newspaper offices or libraries can give you or get you copies of obituary notices which can give you multiple family history search leads. Obituary notices contain lots of useful information. If you are in any doubt, take a look at the Obits section of your local paper. In the older obituaries, longer write-ups are given on family members when they died telling about not only the person but about their life and in some cases about when their family line settled in a certain area of the country. Or you can Search the Obituary Collections at arcalife.com along side of more than a billion other family history records.
Courts and legal offices can be a rich source of family history information. Some court houses have legal documents going back many years, for example probate which includes information about estates,wills, intestate papers. Additional more detailed family history records could include marriage papers, court proceedings indenture, voting records. All of these additional sources can be useful additional family history sources to add to your armory.
