Bring Something New To The Table This Holiday

Date Posted: Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

With the holidays fast approaching, we’re all thinking about perfecting our holiday meal menus or securing the perfect gifts for our nearest and dearest. Visiting with family is an often refreshing and sometimes frustrating part of the season.  I don’t know about your family, but when we get together family histories usually come up. These stories are great but after years and years (and years and years and years) of retelling, I wonder if these stories are true. Oral histories are sort of like a playing the telephone game; the story you start out with might not be the story told 50 years later. Did great grandfather what’s-his-name really throw dollar bills off the top of his car dealership? Was our family actually part of the French Revolution?

If you’re anything like me, you’ll want the real story. Here’s an idea: take this opportunity to set the record straight and tell your relatives something they might not know about your family. The holidays are a perfect time to get to the roots of your family tree and it’s easier than you might think.

Here at the Delaware Public Archives we have many resources for genealogical research useful to native and non-native Delawareans alike. Take a spin through our vital statistics index which lists the births, deaths and marriages of Delawareans. Or, hop on a computer and checkout Ancestry.com –use it for free only at the Archives.

While everyone else is looking forward to the New Year, take a look back at your family’s history. Get started HERE.

Related Topics:  Family History