In recalling or writing your life story or your family’s memories, you should try to include specific dates of events.
This helps tie the memory to you at a specific age and perhaps clarify how much you recall yourself and how much was reinforced by the family’s retelling of the story.
June 2 is the 60th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. I recall watching it on television, but now know it was broadcast in Georgia a day later. It is the first major TV program I recall, and I was 6. Now you can pull it up on YouTube.
In Columbus, we had a tornado earlier that spring, on April 18. A lot of us from the old neighborhood recently shared our memories. Depending on how old we were, our memories differed. Our family got under the kitchen table for safety. I know that because I was there and at 6 knew what was happening. My sister, then not quite 3, has no actual recall, just the continued reinforcement by the family’s retelling.
I also recall being taken to Phenix City and shown the blood on the sidewalk from the murder of Albert Patterson, and later realized I was 7.
So when writing up your family stories, try and include exact dates when possible. It adds to the story and to the evaluation of whether you actually remember the event — or just the retelling.
Books on Oconee, Madison counties
Fred W. McRee Jr., a prolific abstractor and compiler of Georgia records, has recently published two new books: “Madison County, Georgia, Abstracts of Wills, 1813-1922” and “Oconee County, Georgia, Newspaper Extracts, 1875-1924.”
For Madison County, he abstracts the pertinent facts from the wills, in the order written, and provides a full-name index.
For Oconee County he includes information gathered from 13 area newspapers, including those published in Athens, Danielsville and Lexington, since none published in Oconee County/Watkinsville for this period has survived. He includes detailed extracts of the information, which makes interesting reading and an important replacement sourcebook for this northeast Georgia county. There is a full-name index.
The books can be ordered from Fred McRee, P.O. Box 128, Dahlonega, GA 30533. The Madison County book is $26; the Oconee County book is $27, each postpaid.
Conference set for Indiana
For a genealogy destination this summer consider attending the Federation of Genealogical Societies conference in Fort Wayne, Ind., Aug. 21-24, co-sponsored by the Allen County Public Library, one of the top 10 genealogical libraries in the U.S. For information, go to www.fgs.org.
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