Personal histories are now officially cool. And don't take our word for it, just ask ancestry.com.

A January newsletter offered by the mammoth online genealogy site touts what it calls "story preservation," and goes on to list numerous reasons why people should record their own personal story. 

"As family historians, we are constantly striving to link the present to the past as we thumb through page after page of old documents," writes Mary Penner in the ancestry.com newsletter. "Sometimes we forget we've got living, breathing links sitting across the dinner table ... save some modern-day family history for future generations."   

Penner, a genealogist and writer, goes on to describe a process for preserving family stories. We couldn't say it any better. Genealogies preserve the records; personal histories preserve the stories.   

The annual Christmas holiday season is approaching quickly in my part of the world and it's interesting to see how the traditions of the season have changed little in form over time.

The British television show A Victorian Christmas, produced by the BBC, shows how people in 19th century Britain handled Christmas. The show is part of a series in which several people try to recreate life on a Victorian-era farm, with the clothing, techniques and technology of the time. They did not have an easy time adjusting their modern lifestyle to that of 150 years ago.

The Christmas episode does show, however, that while domestic conveniences and equipment have made life much easier the feeling and spirit of the holiday remains - meals, presents, decorations and the emphasis on family has remained.

Personal historians suggest that Christmas is a great time to present your family with your story, part of their story after all. It's too late for this year, but give it some thought for next time. Think of the conversations over that traditional dinner! And all the best for this holiday season.   

Why write your story? That's the theme of this space, and the arguments for picking up pen, tape recorder or turning on keyboard just continue.

From Association of Personal Historians colleague Jennifer Campbell, quoted by The Toronto Star:

"People want to leave thier mark. They want something tangible that they know is going to live on after they are gone. They've set the record straight, they've told things that they might not be able to speak out loud.

In the old days, the elders would tell their stories around the dinner table or around the fire and the family lore was kept alive from generation to generation. But we're divorcing now. We're spreading out. We're way more mobile. The baby boomers are starting to realize that if they don't capture these stories - if they're not the link between the generations - these stories are going to be lost." (January 2010)

Well said. And true!

The bicentennial is coming up of the outbreak of the War of 1812 when the United States declared war on Great Britain and tried unsuccessfully to conquer Canada. There is already much commentary about who won and what the war meant.

It was a small but brutal war fought almost exclusively in the eastern part of North America, overshadowed by Britain's much larger fight against Napoleon. It ended in 1814 with a treaty restoring borders to what they were before the conflict. The outcome ensured that the colonies then making up Canada remained British, provided a "Canadian" identity and sense of pride, opened the doors for waves of settlement from Britain and laid the groundwork for a future full-fledged nation.

When Napoleon was defeated, former British soldiers and sailors and others who found no work and poor prospects looked to emigrate. Some of my ancestors were among those and had the terrority of Canada been American soil, my personal history may have vastly different. Those ancestors  would have either remained in poverty in Scotland or, more likely, have gone to Australia, the only other choice at the time.

The War of 1812 preserved Canada for people like my ancestors who, within just a few years of the war's end, found themselves new homes and lives. And they, of course, led to me - that's just one piece of many that make up my story. We've said here before that major events affect individual's lives and affect their personal history. Not all events are recent.  

People who wonder why they should tell their life story could take a cue from New York Times columnist David Brooks. He's looking for personal stories to help fill up a series in time for the U.S. Thanksgiving in late November.

Brooks is looking for people over 70 to send him their stories in brief, an evaluation of what they did well, what they didn't do so well and what lessons they learned along the way. 

Brooks also notes that the essays he's looking for will be useful to younger people, saying that while they are educated in many ways, they are given relatively little help in understanding how a life develops, how careers and families evolve or the common mistakes and common blessings of modern adulthood. 

We concur with this, of course. For more try: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/28/opinion/brooks-the-life-report.html?ref=opinion

 Apologies to the old 1980s movie Ghostbusters, but who are you going to call to help tell your story? The last few entries here tried to explain the benefits of a personal history, so now let's see why having a personal historian is a good idea. 

It's sometimes hard for family members to interview each other. Unless you have already written down your story, you have to tell it to somebody. People are often reluctant to ask questions of their relatives for fear of offending them or making them uncomfortable.

A personal historian is a neutral and impartial party who can draw out the stories and perhaps elicit revelations that might not be shared otherwise. Personal histories are educational, can be inspiring, cross generations and connect generations.

It's becoming more common for people to share their family stories and to see that even if their stories are different, basic values are often alike. A personal historian can help knit it all together. If you need help with your story, give one a call.

So what value is a personal history to society in general? In the last in this series, we again credit Angela Zusman from a March 2011 discussion at an Association of Personal Historian's gathering in northern California. Material is taken from the Fall 2011 APH Newsletter.

Personal histories, oral or written, can have several influences on society, Zusman says. They combat ignorance, because as they emphasize what people have in common, we can overcome our differences. They can, among other things, help us find perspectives different than our own, helping us examine our values. They can reinforce our values, Zusman adds, or cause us to rethink them in light of someone else's experience.

Personal histories can add to, and Zusman says enrich, the formal historical record by contributing the human side of a story normally told only dryly and dispassionately. They create an emotional connection to our past.

Zusman also says personal histories help us realize we are not alone. When we share stories, she says, we realize that others have the same issues, struggles and victories. And she notes, that by connecting generations, lessons of the past are not lost to the future as we pass on wisdom to those who follow.     

We've been listing the values of personal histories and who gets what benefit from them. Not only are they valuable to individuals and families but also to communities. In the Fall 2011 Newsletter of the Association of Personal Historians, Angela Zusman outlined several community benefits in a March 2011 presentation to APH members in Northern California.

Zusman notes that personal histories can have a strong impact on a community. She lists such positive effects as creating connections among families and between generations, building foundations and creating more understanding of appreciation for different groups of people. 

Personal histories can also help heal old hurts, reveal common values and create pride in a community, among other benefits Zusman suggests.

She adds that personal histories provide three main benefits to communities:

• understanding the diversity of a community
• preserving stories, values and historical records
• connecting people in groups in which they feel part of the "bigger picture"  

Next time, the value of personal history to society in general.

 What is a personal history worth to a family or an organization? Again some insights from Angela Zusman from discussions at a March 2011 presentation to the Norcal branch of the Association of Personal Historians. Thanks to the Fall APH Newsletter.

Families and organizations gain several benefits from recording their stories. Among these are:

• Gaining a better understanding of what it was like for people going through difficult times and hardships. Compare, for example, the experiences and outcomes of the Great Depression of the 1930s with the more recent economic problems of the 2000s
• Learning lessons from the past, positive and negative; from these lessons comes empathy for people's past experiences
• Understanding the storyteller or narrator's life philosophy, who he or she was, his or her core values and ethics -- what important things that person wants to pass on to future generations with the hope they will benefit from knowing what was important to that person
• Capturing and passing on a sense of connectedness; personal stories can bring people closer when they know how one person's experience relates to other family members, especially when some members live far apart, have grown distant or have never known much about the storyteller

Zusman concludes this section with the observation that having a fully captured family history can help foster or rekindle a closer sense of family.  Good advice considering that today is Thanksgiving here in Canada, where I live. More next time.    

This space is generally devoted to the merits of personal histories and why people should do them. Don't just take our word, take it from others. Here, from the Fall 2011 Newsletter of the Association of Personal Historians, is the first of a series listing the benefits of a personal history. Credit goes to Angela Zusman.

As Zusman reports from a March 2011 APH presentation, individuals get value from a personal history. "The most pervasive benefit would be the feeling that 'I matter! My life has made a difference in the world and contributed to the lives of others and my community," she says of discussions flowing from her presentation.

Personal histories provide three main benefts to individuals, she adds:

• Feeling more connected to loved ones and family and having more clarity around the important relationships in your life 
• A heightened sense of belonging and community with those people and organizations that have been in your life
• Greater awareness of how events and people have contributed to who you are today and a greater sense of self-worth and personal wisdom about life

More later on the values of personal history. Meantime, think over the above.