Photographs and Memories: Our Family History by Stephen G. Rostand (publ. 2020)

"For most of us in my generation, knowledge of our family is limited to about five generations (grandparents, parents, one's own siblings and cousins, children, and grandchildren). Beyond those limits, our relatives become only names, people of whom we may have little or no personal recollection. Thus, we undertake to write a family history or memoir in order to give our children, grandchildren, and cousins perspective on our (their) origins."

—Stephen G. Rostand, Photographs and Memories: Our Family History (2020)

There are as many reasons to write a memoir or family history as there are people who write them. Some reasons include: offering a legacy, setting the story straight, uncovering family secrets, or just plain self-discovery.

For former client Stephen Rostand, his book was intended in part to provide the younger generations with a sense of their origins. He compiled anecdotes passed down from generation to generation, conducted genealogical research, and contacted distant cousins in faraway countries. As with many family historians, the writing took years to complete, and then came the work of preparing the text and photos for publication. That's when we were delighted to come in. We also worked closely with him to transform drafts of his hand-drawn family trees into clear, legible genealogy charts. Finally, our designer artistically designed the dustjacket (pictured above) to reflect the Rostands' actual leather-bound family album (pictured below).

If you have a box of photographs from your parents' or grandparents' closet, or perhaps you are the one who has always kept and organized your own family photos, this is the perfect start to creating a book. Photographs themselves will fade, crumble, and disappear after a number of years or decades, but a book will last for generations.

October Question:

What is a unique or interesting name in your family?

Answers from the staff:

Megan St. Marie:  One of my maternal great-grandmothers had the wonderfully alliterative name, Frances Philomena Fox. She was born in County Galway, Ireland and went by the nickname "Fannie."

Sean St. Marie:  The full given name of my aunt and godmother, whom my siblings, cousins, and I called "Aunt Betty," was Honora Elizabeth Sheridan. It's a more common name in Ireland, sometimes shortened to Nora.

Ali de Groot:  Distant relatives' names (of couples) that were oft repeated: Uncle Foote was married to Aunt Parke. Aunt Jack was married to Uncle Leslie. Uncle Francis was married to Aunt Frances.

Liz Sonnenberg:  One of my paternal great-grandmothers was named Parthenia Yerigan. Maybe. Her first name is spelled about a dozen different ways in original records and genealogical indexes.