Ancestry
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Who were his/her ancestors and what were they like? Knowing the answer to these types of questions can be important in how we define ourselves. Choose this Topic to detail his/her family's roots.
Would you like to include information about his/her ancestry in the story of his/her life?
- How far back could his/her family trace its roots? From where was the information collected? Who gathered the information together?
- What details were collected about his/her past family members? Was a lot of information available, or just names and dates?
- Do any family trees exist on his/her ancestry? If yes, do you know who created them? How large are they?
- What did his/her ancestors look like? Are there any pictures of his/her ancestors? Which ones? How old are these pictures? Where are they kept?
- What nationalities did his/her family include? Just one, or several? What languages did his/her ancestors speak? Did he/she learn to speak these languages as a child?
- Did his/her family have a strong sense of their ethnic background? What ethnic traditions did his/her family carry out? Did he/she celebrate specific holidays, eat special foods, or dress in a particular way?
- Who were the first members of his/her family to come to the U.S.? Where did they come from? Why did they leave their homeland? When did they arrive? Where did they settle? Why? How did they get there?
- Did he/she ever live in or visit his/her family's country of origin? If yes, describe the experience. Did he/she feel at home there?
- What level of education did his/her ancestors receive? Where did they learn--in the home or at school? Was education always important in his/her family or not?
- Was his/her family religious? What religions did his/her ancestors practice? Did he/she grow up practicing this religion too?
- Was there a traditional occupation in his/her family? What did his/her ancestors do?
- What size were his/her ancestors' families? Large or small? Was this common for the time period?
- What were his/her ancestors' finances like? Were they well off? Were any assets passed down from generation to generation?
- What kind of medical history did his/her family have? Did any illnesses run in the family? Were people in the family generally heavy? How long did his/her ancestors live?
- What heirlooms were in his/her family? Where did they come from? To whom did they belong in the past? Where are they now?
- Describe his/her parents. What did they look like? What were their personality traits? Did he/she inherit any of this from them?
- Give a brief description of what his/her parents did with their lives. Did he/she follow in their footsteps? What did he/she learn from them?
- Describe his/her grandparents. What did they look like? What were their personality traits? Did he/she inherit any of this from them?
- Give a brief description of what his/her grandparents did. What did he/she learn from them?
- Are there any other relatives you want to write about? Did he/she have a favorite or least favorite relative? Describe this person. Were there any relatives he/she looked forward to seeing? How often did he/she get to see them?