Tips for genealogist's Christmas letter?

Question

I was looking on ancestry.com reading about writing letters to relatives to ask for information, filling them in on general interest news before you start asking questions, etc. I also just got married a year ago and I was introduced to the idea of Christmas letters. (His family does them, mine never has.)

What I was thinking about was writing a brief Christmas letter with like a top-ten list of our year. Being the first one my husband and I have written, I don't want it to be long or tedious. What do you think would be a good way to request genealogical information in the process?

I'm going to do something like "3. Moved to new apartment in ____. 2. Got a new job at __________." "1. We celebrated our one-year anniversary." Should I include a small family tree? Maybe a different one for the branch each recipient is in? I want to know birth dates and childrens/parents names. Maybe a large chart with blanks to fill in and a SASE?

Anyone have ideas?

How bout a nice Christmas-y way to say email me or call me if you want to share in my genealogical research.

Something like...
"8. Calliope has been working on her family tree. She has # people in the ________ branch of the family." and then "If you'd like to help, email..." or "Just email her at ____@____ to find out more" or "She'd love to know what you have to share..."

Vote for one of those or give me a better way to say something like that!

Most of my American cousins are in the computer-savy generation but I don't have their email addresses. In Mexico, there are just a few who can email. So replace email above with "email or write."

Answer 1

Hey calliope3...,

Thoughtful question. Once I received one of these notes at christmas, that informed me an Aunt had passed on. Not a good way to find out that information.

Perhaps, if you had Christmas Gifts - like Free information, 4th Great Grandparents picture, lines form a Record saying what your 9th Great Grandparent did for work, when he was born, where. Where you found information. Where you keep the information on the internet...

DNA Results. That would be awesome. Also, a Tree online at Roots, LDS or one of the other sites.

You could give pointers to all sorts of sites and family history. Nice idea!

But leave out the recently deceased, unless you are sure that all know.

Of course, you could do the Coat of Arms thing too - I don't take too much stock in those because of the rules to pass down are complicated, and not followed.

Certificates from Passengers Lists of Ancestors from Ellis Island.

Answer 2

I would not mix the two. Your family members are going to get 30 or 40 Christmas letters; your request for data may get lost in the shuffle.
http://www.tedpack.org/xmasnews.html
is everything know about Christmas letters.

On to genealogy letters. You shouldn't ask questions that can be answered in one line, if the people are living; you miss too much.

Imagine the story behind:

Q. Military service?
A. 101st Parachute Infantry, 1942 - 1946.

Q. Marriage Date?
A. 25 Dec 1952.

Q. Birth place?
A. At sea.

Q. Occupation?
A. International jewel thief.

If you DO ask people for dates, be careful. Calling them is best. A letter with a SASE is second-best. Preface your conversation or letter with "This may seem odd if the genealogy bug hasn't bitten you, but . . ."

Be aware that some people had to get married, and the marriage may have lasted for 1, 10 or 50 years. They may not want to tell you that their firstchild was born 4 months after the wedding.

Answer 3

You didn't say if you knew those people or if this was your first time writing to them. First of all they will want to know how you know them and how you are related. Next you will have to write in their language (and not yours). Then you can ask them about their family tree (the elders may know a little but can't read or write, and the younger ones may not be interested in responding). You will be lucky if you sent to several and received one reply let alone any family tree information. Most don't keep birth dates and they will refer you to the library to look it up for yourself. If they are your relative they will expect a donation $35 to $50 (is their custom) for you to help them out because they are probably poor farmers. Some still have to spend money to travel to pick up their mail so don't expect a quick response. Their children are probably at university, traveling, or maybe even as far as the USA, and they will tell you that genealogy is a rich American man's hobby, so what they're saying is that they expect that if you want any genealogy info that you pay one of their country's researchers to check out the info from the churches. Most church info is now held at the Family Research Center in Utah where you can rent tapes and look over what info is available, or what's left from war torn areas, over the years.

I suggest that if you're going to send like a card of 84 cents or more (which is expensive) that you just include your tree and picture and ask for theirs. You can send them a green international form from the post office for them to turn in to their post office to get postage for returning your mail. I think that form costs about $1.50 each. So you can see this endeavor would be quite expensive. They aren't going to fill in your blanks.

Answer 4

Why don't you make an ONLINE SURVEY that will allow the respondents access thru their computers at home and in their own time

1. Go to http://www.bravenet.com/ and set up a free blog.

2. Add as many of the free resources that you want others to be able to access which allows them to contribute to the 'FAMILY PROJECT'. Include all of your information that you want to share.

3. Send your mailing out and give them a 'secret password'
or whatever which will allow them to access and contribute to this
space.

OR
If that sounds like too much work, you can go to http://www.myfamily.com/ and set up the same kind of thing but for a yearly fee. I've met family I never knew existed through this site. It is fun as you can exchange genealogy information by uploading gedcom files, pictures, etc. providing an excellent platform for communication.