Advice for compiling military family history

[Willh1664]

Hello,

I have,i believe, collected every single document that possibly exists regarding my direct line of family up until 1870 (service records,pictures and medals for 8 people). 

 

These records cover nearly every war,from 1870, up until 1982. I have spent the last 3 years cross referencing these service records and other documents with war diaries,first hand accounts and unit history books as to build a picture of each mans service.

 

I am not looking to write or publish a book,but i am looking to piece all of this information together in one place that can be passed on and added too.

 

If anyone has completed anything similar,is there any advice you have in regards to the kind of format for doing this? 

 

Any advice is welcome!

 

Thanks,

Will

 

Edited 15 February , 2017 by Willh1664

[Waddell]

Hi Will,

 

The easy way would be to put everything chronologically in a large document and have it printed.

 

I would suggest that with the level of research you have done it would certainly be worth attempting to write, at least to outline the context of how the war diaries, personal accounts and unit histories tie together. Remember if you are trying to pass it on to further generations they may not see the links as simply as you.

 

Another method could be to write a short story of each family member, inserting the documents as necessary. I have done this for the families of several soldiers and it ties the stories up well.

 

Scott     

[Khaki]

Congratulations Will,

 

My advice would be to make many copies and perhaps a copy for the local library, a single copy may end up with someone who doesn't have any interest, or destroyed. The other thing is to remember that todays links may not exist in the future.

 

khaki

 

 

[Dragon]

I did something similar in December when it was the 100th anniversary of my grandparents marrying. He embarked for France and Flanders the next day. Happily I possess a lot of their original documents and his original military papers, so I compiled as much as I could and I employed Chris Baker's professional service fourteeneighteen|research to flesh out the story, because military history research isn't my thing and I wanted quality information by someone who was experienced in what he was doing. I already knew some family history, so as context, I outlined my grandfather's family as far back as 1840.

 

My intention was to give each of their surviving descendants a lovely book which they could keep. After a lot of thinking, I decided to create a photobook. I used Fujifilm Create because this would give me complete flexibility to include as much text as I wanted accompanied by very high quality images (scans of photos, documents, maps  and so on). Using this service, you don't download software to your computer; the book is compiled, edited and finalised online. (I've used downloaded photo book software before and it tended to be problematical to upload in one go.) There is a very flexible range of templates and you can rework it as much as you like. You don't pay anything until you have completed the book to your satisfaction. A big box of the finished books came back within two weeks and they were perfect .

 

My final book is archived online so if I want to go back and re-do it, I can access it.*  I offered compilation CDs of all the photos and documents for anyone who wanted massive images. Obviously I have backed up my own draft.

 

One decision I made early on is that it's important to write in a way which engages readers who may know next-to-nothing about the Great War.

 

The books were appreciated by their recipients and I hope the youngest one will save it until he's old enough to want to reflect on his family story. If you like, I can post a scan of a sample page.

 

Gwyn

 

*Edit - this isn't correct. I have my own backup.

Edited 21 February , 2017 by Dragon

[John_Hartley]

1 hour ago, Dragon said:

One decision I made early on is that it's important to write in a way which engages readers who may know next-to-nothing about the Great War.

Absolutely!

 

De-jargon and explain everything. And, for this sort of family document, I'd suggest a style of writing almost as though you were having a chat with them.

[Khaki]

An added thought, make sure you introduce yourself with a photo, your material may be being referred to 100 years from now, (at least I hope so)

 

khaki

[Willh1664]

On 18/02/2017 at 16:36, Dragon said:

I did something similar in December when it was the 100th anniversary of my grandparents marrying. He embarked for France and Flanders the next day. Happily I possess a lot of their original documents and his original military papers, so I compiled as much as I could and I employed Chris Baker's professional service fourteeneighteen|research to flesh out the story, because military history research isn't my thing and I wanted quality information by someone who was experienced in what he was doing. I already knew some family history, so as context, I outlined my grandfather's family as far back as 1840.

 

My intention was to give each of their surviving descendants a lovely book which they could keep. After a lot of thinking, I decided to create a photobook. I used Fujifilm Create because this would give me complete flexibility to include as much text as I wanted accompanied by very high quality images (scans of photos, documents, maps  and so on). Using this service, you don't download software to your computer; the book is compiled, edited and finalised online. (I've used downloaded photo book software before and it tended to be problematical to upload in one go.) There is a very flexible range of templates and you can rework it as much as you like. You don't pay anything until you have completed the book to your satisfaction. A big box of the finished books came back within two weeks and they were perfect .

 

My final book is archived online so if I want to go back and re-do it, I can access it.  I offered compilation CDs of all the photos and documents for anyone who wanted massive images. Obviously I have backed up my own draft.

 

One decision I made early on is that it's important to write in a way which engages readers who may know next-to-nothing about the Great War.

 

The books were appreciated by their recipients and I hope the youngest one will save it until he's old enough to want to reflect on his family story. If you like, I can post a scan of a sample page.

 

Gwyn

 

 

Hi Gwyn,

 

If possible,could you post a sample page for me please?

 

Unfortunetly there is a very big gap between my level interest in this topic and other family members. But as you mentioned,maybe by making the topic less overwhelming,it may gather more interest.

 

Thanks for the advice,

 

Will

[Dragon]

Yes, of  course. I'll do it tomorrow.

[Dragon]

Here are some samples. I have redacted some details because this is a public forum. I made no assumptions that the readers would know anything about the Great War, yet I tried to avoid being patronising in tone. I imagined myself writing to a specific person.

 

This is the cover. The small blemishes are on the original photograph.

 

 

 

 

Sample pages:

 

 

 

(The shading on the pages is simply the problem of scanning on a flatbed scanner. I have an overhead scanner for quality images.)

 

 

 

The pages following this one have a selection of maps, with explanations and locations highlighted (just seen).

 

 

 

I am fortunate to have the originals of his paperwork.

 

 

 

I would be grateful if those who know more about military history than I do, or who think they could have done better / more accurately / in a more detailed manner, or those who spot any spelling or punctuation mistakes, would keep their thoughts to themselves.

 

Gwyn

 

 

[Willh1664]

4 hours ago, Dragon said:

Here are some samples. I have redacted some details because this is a public forum. I made no assumptions that the readers would know anything about the Great War, yet I tried to avoid being patronising in tone. I imagined myself writing to a specific person.

 

This is the cover. The small blemishes are on the original photograph.

 

 

 

 

Sample pages:

 

 

 

(The shading on the pages is simply the problem of scanning on a flatbed scanner. I have an overhead scanner for quality images.)

 

 

 

The pages following this one have a selection of maps, with explanations and locations highlighted (just seen).

 

 

 

I am fortunate to have the originals of his paperwork.

 

 

 

I would be grateful if those who know more about military history than I do, or who think they could have done better / more accurately / in a more detailed manner, or those who spot any spelling or punctuation mistakes, would keep their thoughts to themselves.

 

Gwyn

 

 

Hi Gwyn,

Thanks for taking the time to share this. It's great to see a format that i can take ideas from,i can't admit to being a very creative person!

 

How many pages, overall,did your project come too? 

 

Will

[Dragon]

I'll have a look. It was an A4 Brilliant Lustre 24 page book which has the option of adding extra pages up to 72, and I added extra pages. (Brilliant Lustre isn't very shiny - it's semi-matt.)

 

The Fujifilm Create templates are very flexible and it's easy to compose each page.

 

I should have added that I credited all sources of information, such as Chris Baker's research.

[Roger H]

First, can I say that Gwyn's book looks excellent and is a class above mine.  I typed up my research and had it printed on good quality paper - it helped that I knew a printer! - and then had copies bound at Staples.  My main sources were War Diaries, Trench Maps, Google Earth and this forum.  Here are a few (poor) photos.  You will see that I have also acknowledged those who have taken photos (etc) for me.

 

Roger

 

 

[Willh1664]

4 hours ago, Roger H said:

First, can I say that Gwyn's book looks excellent and is a class above mine.  I typed up my research and had it printed on good quality paper - it helped that I knew a printer! - and then had copies bound at Staples.  My main sources were War Diaries, Trench Maps, Google Earth and this forum.  Here are a few (poor) photos.  You will see that I have also acknowledged those who have taken photos (etc) for me.

 

Roger

 

 

Thanks for sharing that Roger, the google maps page is a nice touch for bringing the topic very much closer to modern day reality.

 

I struggling with the volume of what i have really. 8 men who nearly all served about 25/30 years each isnt easy to condense down! It is slightly worrying how long this may well take to compile.

[Dragon]

Thanks, Roger.

 

I included maps, both current and contemporary, partly with the thought that someone in the future might wish to visit. Before 1988 I hadn't a clue where my grandfather was injured and there was no-one alive who would have any ideas, so I thought I would save another descendant the trouble. As August 2017 will be one hundred years since he was wounded, it isn't beyond possibility that someone might think of travelling there. It won't be me.

 

Will, you could do a book for each person (and create several copies) and then an overview volume. I suggest that in any condensed form, you have to be ruthless and very objective about what really matters. I hope you don't mind my saying that a descendant who isn't really into the Great War would be put off by a detail-intense account. You have to question every piece of information for its importance to a generalist reader years hence. If you have a detailed master book (or whatever) for each man, anyone interested can always read further. If it's like the spread of interest among my own relatives, most people won't be.

 

You need to decide what is the point of your publishing venture. Compiling everything you've found out and recording in a future-proof way it is laudable and definitely worth doing. Communicating that to the people's descendants is quite a different purpose. It's the difference between a first level exchange of information and a further level. I'm not sure that one publication can cover both.

 

Whatever you decide to do, compiling the work is simpler if you draft your text then you can copy and paste into the final form.  

 

Gwyn

 

 

 

Edited 22 February , 2017 by Dragon

[David_Underdown]

I've done a variety of photobooks over the last few years, using http://www.photobox.co.uk (though it does look like I'll have to take up their no quibble reprint offer this time as some of the colour reproduction seems a bit off, but that's the first time I've had a problem.  This year that included a section on a trip to the Somme last summer to visit my great-great-uncle's grave.  I didn't include as much documentation as Gwyn has, but it did include his photo from the family album, a plan of the CCS where he died from their war diary, and also that plan overlaid on Google maps data, some IWM photos showing the area around the CCS a little later in 1916, and my own photos of the sites we visited.

[Roger H]

I think Gwyn's advice about separate volumes with one overview is a good one - otherwise it would be a mammoth task to knit it all together.  Certainly you have to write carefully with regard to no knowledge of WWI.  For example, very early in my "book" I took care in explaining the army structure - Army, Corps, Division, Brigade (and pointing out the meaning of "Brigade" when referring to the RFA) etc. etc.

 

Roger

[Dragon]

I think that's vital, Roger. As I've been quite open about, military history is not my thing and the structure of the army is a mystery to me apart from in broad terms. Therefore, I do have insights into what it's like being faced with text which is littered with abbreviations and underpinned by assumptions. Some of the posts on this forum might as well be written in Serbo-Croat as far as I'm concerned. I wouldn't expect people to be engaged by what I know about either, unless I'd considered where they are before communicating it. An appendix can be very useful; I considered laminating a loose-leaf jargon-buster but decided to write for my audience instead.

 

That is one of the strengths of Chris's research when it arrives with the client: there are lucid explanations, in clear English, without jargon, without unexplained abbreviations, without talking down.

 

Honestly, I can't express strongly enough how important it is to use clear language, to explain the information and to put it in context for people who may know very little and whose interest might be killed by a jargon-infested account. People who don't know much about the Great War aren't inadequate human beings, they have their own specialisms and expertise. It is terribly offputting to be faced with masses of detail which you can't contextualise.

 

Gwyn