Do you keep a journal/record of your experiences?

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Just wondering how many of you keep a journal of sorts, to record either daily or occasional happenings in your lives, for posterity? Thought about this because my father and uncle, before I was born, went on a "great adventure", to Alaska, loaded up an old Model A (or T, I don't know which) with beans,flour, warm coats and other provisions, and travelled up what is now the Alcan highway, built a cabin and attempted to homestead, but didn't stay long enough to get title to the property. Ran out of provisions and willpower after a few months, I think and came home. Anyway, this is just one story that has been passed down, but never written down, and I want to get it recorded for my children and grandchildren. Someday want to travel the same route and see what is now where they had built, etc. My mother made up "grandmother's books" for my children, which are filled with facts about her early life that I didn't know. I am now trying to make up a journal of sorts about our lives on our "homestead" for the kids/grand/greatgrands, etc in case someday they are interested. With this age of computers and email, the "paper trail" of information, such as letters, etc, that folks used to keep, will probably not exist. Any thoughts? Jan

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), June 08, 2000

Answers

Just the opposite, Jan!

I invested in a modest scanner for my Mac, along with a good word processor and graphics capabilities. I'm preserving my family's "paper trail" electronically. My daughter is jumping right into the project as she is of the "PC" (not Pepsi-Cola) generation. The keyboard is as second nature to her as milking a goat. So she is doing the filing and organizing, my wife is doing the "paper chase" at various court houses and through family records and I'm chasing down long lost relatives via the Web. I've also emailed my sisters with our tall tales from the country life and have kept their replies.

So, the computer is helping to preserve our family legacy and our family history with scanned images of old photographs, letters, property deeds, court settlements, and newspaper clippings. All wrapped up in whiz-bang graphics, voice recordings and narration. Great fun. Just make sure you have a good backup!

(:raig

-- Craig Miller (CMiller@ssd.com), June 08, 2000.


I lost my mom on May 27th, suddenly to a heart attack. She was a wealth of knowledge and at 83 had a memory that we thought would last forever. Fortunately, at the urging of my youngest daughter, we began about two years ago to tape record her telling her stories. She was somewhat shy about it at first, but soon began to kind of enjoy the process. We have three cassettes of her telling about her childhood and ours and ditties about her and dad's families. Now not only do we have her stories, but we have her voice on tape. Believe me it is a welcome sound when so desperately missed. This lady was my mentor, teacher, best friend and believed in everything I did. If you have the opportunity to get your family stories on paper or tape, do it. And you don't have to limit it to family, there are some great stories to be told by the elderly folks all around you, all you need to do is ask! Those experiences and knowledge will be gone forever if we do not choose to save it. I've recently drawn on the knowledge of an elderly farmer neighbor to help me figure out the operation of my Oliver mower, just like one he used to own. Many of the "farming" techniques new today are just reruns of things my dad did years ago, some college professor has just made it sound new. Dad always could tell how his land was by what weeds grew on it and how to judge whether grain was good to store by smell and feel, and it goes on forever. That knowledge is priceless, collect it.

-- Betsy (betsyk@pathwaynet.com), June 08, 2000.

I try, but I really wish I had a garden journal and other practical information from my great grandmother. I barely remember her as an active person, as she was an invalid for the last part of her life. However everyone who can remember her that way tells me that I am growing up (I'm 29) to be just like her, garden, crafts, etc. I hope she likes the fact that I'm following in her footsteps. annette

-- annette (j_a_henry@yahoo.com), June 08, 2000.

Ever since my daughter was born almost 5 years ago, I've been writing a book for her; keeping track of things we do together, her milestones etc. Now I'm on volume 2. In each writing (anywhere from weekly to monthly) I make sure to reaffirm my love for her, and my hope is that when she reads these in her teens, they will give her an anchor of love to hold on to. :-) This year i'm going to give my two remaining grandmas each a grandmother book to write in. You just never know how long you have to spend with them.

-- Michelle (thepieplace@techline.com), June 08, 2000.

Betsy, I am sorry for the loss of your mother, but what a beautiful idea and keepsake for your children.

-- Mary (Mlogan298@yahoo.com), June 08, 2000.


My grandfather wrote a book before he died -- a lot of it is hunting stories, but there is a lot about our family, too, and you get a really good picture of how they lived. I have been asking grandma to add a chapter to it -- my sister said she told grandma she ought to write her own book, and I hope she does, but at least a chapter added to grandad's to give the woman's side of the story! But I don't keep a journal or anything. I think more people used to do things like that -- look at how many journals and diaries there are from the Oregon Trail. My mother had a photographic record of the years we were on our homestead in Alaska, but her slides are starting to fade, after nearly forty years. As far as e-mail affecting the "paper trail" of letters, it won't make much difference in my family! None of us are much good at writing lettere -- it's easier to pick up the phone!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), June 08, 2000.

Craig - and anyone else counting on electronic memories -

I hope paper copies of everything is part of your backup plan. Electronic files have a MUCH shorter shelflife than papers - years or months rather than decades or centuries. Not only can platforms change - making your stuff unreadable - but the actual magnetic storage medium (disks, etc) have a very short lifespan. If you really want your grandchildren and their grandchildren to have this stuff, print it out on acid-free paper and transcribe the "vocals."

-- Deborah (ActuaryMom@hotmail.com), June 08, 2000.


My father-in-law is 84 yrs. old now. He used to work in a logging camp with a bunch of bachelors over 60 yrs. ago. He used to sing us the old camp songs they had. Told us how they'd rub tree sap all over their bodies to keep the mosquitos off, how the men only took a bath if they went and visited a "lady?" in town,etc. I've tried to get him to sing on a tape to record all this but he never would and now he forgot 90% of them. They were cute songs - one went "Oh why'd I get married, look what I went and done" - it was really cute You're right - the past should be recorded for family members!

-- Pat (pmikul@pcpros.net), June 08, 2000.

Betsy - My sympathies also on the loss of your mother. The tape cassettes are a GREAT idea. There's something about the sound of a voice that brings family history alive. Something that printed words cannot do.

Deborah - You're absolutely right about electronic files. Their shelflife stinks. I've simply been using the computer as a fun way to tie everything together and keep my techno-savy web-crawling daughter interested. But most of our family documents are securely tucked in a cedar trunk with mothballs and small bags of rice and baking soda to absorb moisture and odors. I've made copies and sent them to my sister in another state. And she has done the same with me. The REALLY important stuff is in a safe deposit vault in town. Like they say at the grocery store, "Paper or plastic?". I always choose paper.

(:raig

-- Craig Miller (CMiller@ssd.com), June 09, 2000.


Craig: Great idea to use the computer. I type MUCH faster on a keyboard than even an electric, and spell check is wonderful! As others stated, as long as we keep backup copies, as you do, and keep them in a safe place, it is a wonderful tool. There are so many mysteries in our families, things that I wish I knew, but all those concerned are gone. Maybe that is for the best sometimes, too! I am going to start books for my grandkids, kids, and a couple extra for any that might come along after I am done, or gone! I'm also going to write on the back of all the zillions of photos we have taken over the years. Did it for a while, but then slacked off. When the inlaws passed away, they had boxes and boxes of photos, and almost none are labeled. Now, no one knows who a lot of those are. Too bad. Jan

-- Jan in Colorado (Janice12@aol.com), June 10, 2000.


I have been journaling for years! some of mine were destroyed in a fire but I have them now for about the last five years. That's why it would be good to save them on disk in one place and on paper in another!!! I usually write in a lined notebook because I can take it with me when I'm waiting at meetings, doctor's appointments with my mama, and places like that!!!

I have a friend that writes a daily letter to his two daughters in the Air Force, and then he e-mails it to all his friends....Plus he keeps a copy of it so that makes him a journal! It tells what he does as a radio broadcaster and then what all he does on his homestead with all the animals! (I'm a newspaper reporter so I try to write a little about what's going on in local politics, big fires, bad weather, that kind of thing, but mostly about the family and our homestead and animals)

To the woman who lost her mother on May 27th, that is my birthday, so I will say a special prayer for your loss today.

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), June 11, 2000.


I have been keeping journals since 7th grade. Fall out of it every now and again, but then pick it back up. I don't do as much "record keeping" as I should, but it's a great way to note all manner of growth or even the lack of it on a personal level.

I don't know if anyone will ever read my journals, probably only in the event of my untimely demise as a means of building a case against me!

I agree that old letters are a great way for people to get a sense of their familial history, and was lucky enough to have access to letters from my great-great grandparents when I was a kid. One of the things that strikes me about them in retrospect, is that they are generally very short...hm.

-- Doreen (livinginskin@yahoo.com), June 11, 2000.


I tried to keep a day to day journal last year. I hate writing letters, and the idea was to write a little every day about what is going on here, and then print it out and copy it at the end of the month, and send each relative a copy of the journal. My family for the most part, are city dwellers, or may have lived in the country at times but not as homesteaders. So I wondered what they would think of it, whether they would find it boring. They LOVED it!! They called and wrote asking when they would get the next one! After about six months, I got busy, behind, and depressed, and couldn't keep up, so I let it lapse. They all missed it and would love for me to do it again. I think it gave them a perspective on the homesteading lifestyle, which previously seemed a little odd to them.

Also, it was nice to be able to look back and see what happened when, what a birthing was like, when I planted the peas, etc.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), March 01, 2002.


Yes, yes, YES!! I started my journal a few years ago and am currently on my fourth notebook. My two little boys like for me to stay with them until they fall asleep at night, which gives me just enough time to fill out a day's entry (by flashlight). Having a specific time set aside to do this really helps me keep with it, though I do miss a day or a week or a month here and there.

-- Sharon/WI (pinnow@inwave.com), March 01, 2002.

Yes, we do keep a journal in an indirect sort of way.

What we do is a write a weekly family newsletter that goes out to mine and my wife's familys and a couple of long-time friends. They're fairly chatty, usually coming out to about a printed page or two every week. We keep a copy and they all go into a special directory that we have for them. Over time they've been steadily accumulating.

Now that I'm thinking about this I ought to back them up on a Zip disc and keep them in more than one place.

.......Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), March 01, 2002.



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