Personal Historians Help Preserve Family Stories

“My mother, Betty Fivecoat, told such interesting stories of her childhood on a farm in Harrisonville, Missouri during the Great Depression. Dozens of extended family lived in one farmhouse, surviving mostly on her grandfather’s veteran’s pension he earned while serving in the Philippines during the Spanish American War and in World War I.

My mom endured losing her father when she was nine and moved to that farm with her widowed mother and younger brother. She was a first-hand witness to not just her family history, but to her grandfather’s stories from the wars of the early 20th century and all the major events of the second half of the 20th century.

As a history buff, I begged my mom to write her life story and record family history before she passed. She always assured me she . . .”

https://www.nextavenue.org/personal-historians-help-preserve-family-stories