Families Galore! (Part 2 of 3)

It is quite easy to start a family history. Start with a simple compilation of your own family. That way, you can count yourself as the first generation. From there, you can trace your roots at both sides of the family trees. I found it helpful to focus on one family at a time. It came to the point that I asked my brother to take charge researching our paternal ancestry while I researched our maternal ancestry (and vice versa). It is amazing what we found along the way. (He has been quite fruitful since he was the one who obtained a copy of a published souvenir book of the Suico clan of Cebu!).

Tracing family genealogy can be quite tricky if a system of compiling data is not implemented at the very beginning. Years ago, I started with one notebook and ended up with a lot of loose leaf pages tucked in between. Hey, I was a teenager back then -- I simply put down into paper what I could find.

Getting data from our beloved seniors was a bit tricky, too. Names that were provided from memory were mostly nicknames. An Australian friend asked why we Filipinos loved to have different names for one single person. Take for example, a girl with the name of Maria, has a nickname of Mari as a young girl, then is called Lola Iyay when she hits the senior citizen's mark. Truly confusing, huh?

There were times that I had to associate birth, marriage and death dates with "landmark historical events" like World War I, World War II, Martial Law, or "landmark weather events" (and catastrophies) like that intense tropical storm in 1974 or something like that... Mostly, I had to estimate the dates using a standard family history time line that proved to be helpful in finding the correct data.

Bottom line is this: be persistent in gathering data.

You see, aside from the cobwebbed memories of our seniors, there are other places where data can be found. Yeah, yeah, the old family yearbook, the family Bible, letters, etc... Albums can be quite a treasure trove of memories. The next time you happen to visit relatives, reach out for that dusty album (where every photo is in black and white -- or as we call it nowadays, SEPIA), and carefully look behind the picture. Chances are, there are names and dates and places about the photo that's hidden there.

Don't you just love how photographs were taken during those "olden" years?... Most of them are in "firing squad" position. Neatly arranged, families in rows, and everyone is identified according to age (or height or beauty).

Families Galore!

Compiling Family Names, Birthdates, You Know... Stuff.

It all started as a small project way back in high school. I know, I know. It isn't something that a usual teenager gets a kick out of... But it was way cool thing to do whenever I would attend family gatherings. I'd sit beside a member of the family, whip out my pen and paper (or notebook or whatever is handy to write on to), and then ask questions... "What's your name? When is your birthday?" These usually get them talking...

Then I'd shoot the questions that get them on to the long-term-memory-part of their brain: What's your spouse's name? your parent's names, their birthdates? When did you get married? How many siblings do you have? How about your grandparents? Children? Yup, you sure get them talking...

And then the family stories would come out... They usually begin with "I remember the time when..." It's AMAZING what you learn from family members. Their life stories are worth telling over and over again. Those were the times when I'd dream about compiling all of what I've been told and writing a book. Yup! Some were telenovela stuff: drama, comedy, love story... Hey do you know of a family member that got to do cool stuff during the past two world wars? I know I have one, somewhere in my files...

Organizing Family Histories

Fortunately for me, my family became members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1984. The Church has a wonderful family history data base. It became easier for me to compile data and put them on an organized computer program known as Personal Ancestral File. So far, I have researched at least five generations from my own family during the ensuing years. Over time, I got to add more family members to my own tree. And then, I was informed of the existence of a book that the Suico clan of Cebu, Philippines published. Imagine my delight to know that I have more family members than I could ever imagine -- and to top that,we're related to the late Sergio Osmena, a President of the Philippines!

(Part 1 of 3)