essay about family history

Essay about Family: What It Is and How to Nail It

Humans naturally seek belonging within families, finding comfort in knowing someone always cares. Yet, families can also stir up insecurities and mental health struggles.

Family dynamics continue to intrigue researchers across different fields. Every year, new studies explore how these relationships shape our minds and emotions.

In this article, our dissertation service will guide you through writing a family essay. You can also dive into our list of topics for inspiration and explore some standout examples to spark your creativity.

What is Family Essay

A family essay takes a close look at the bonds and experiences within families. It's a common academic assignment, especially in subjects like sociology, psychology, and literature.

So, what's involved exactly? Simply put, it's an exploration of what family signifies to you. You might reflect on cherished family memories or contemplate the portrayal of families in various media.

What sets a family essay apart is its personal touch. It allows you to express your own thoughts and experiences. Moreover, it's versatile – you can analyze family dynamics, reminisce about family customs, or explore other facets of familial life.

If you're feeling uncertain about how to write an essay about family, don't worry; you can explore different perspectives and select topics that resonate with various aspects of family life.

Tips For Writing An Essay On Family Topics

A family essay typically follows a free-form style, unless specified otherwise, and adheres to the classic 5-paragraph structure. As you jot down your thoughts, aim to infuse your essay with inspiration and the essence of creative writing, unless your family essay topics lean towards complexity or science.

Here are some easy-to-follow tips from our essay service experts:

• Focus on a Specific Aspect: Instead of a broad overview, delve into a specific angle that piques your interest, such as exploring how birth order influences sibling dynamics or examining the evolving role of grandparents in modern families.
• Share Personal Anecdotes: Start your family essay introduction with a personal touch by sharing stories from your own experiences. Whether it's about a favorite tradition, a special trip, or a tough time, these stories make your writing more interesting.
• Use Real-life Examples: Illustrate your points with concrete examples or anecdotes. Draw from sources like movies, books, historical events, or personal interviews to bring your ideas to life.
• Explore Cultural Diversity: Consider the diverse array of family structures across different cultures. Compare traditional values, extended family systems, or the unique hurdles faced by multicultural families.
• Take a Stance: Engage with contentious topics such as homeschooling, reproductive technologies, or governmental policies impacting families. Ensure your arguments are supported by solid evidence.
• Delve into Psychology: Explore the psychological underpinnings of family dynamics, touching on concepts like attachment theory, childhood trauma, or patterns of dysfunction within families.
• Emphasize Positivity: Share uplifting stories of families overcoming adversity or discuss strategies for nurturing strong, supportive family bonds.
• Offer Practical Solutions: Wrap up your essay by proposing actionable solutions to common family challenges, such as fostering better communication, achieving work-life balance, or advocating for family-friendly policies.

Family Essay Topics

When it comes to writing, essay topics about family are often considered easier because we're intimately familiar with our own families. The more you understand about your family dynamics, traditions, and experiences, the clearer your ideas become.

If you're feeling uninspired or unsure of where to start, don't worry! Below, we have compiled a list of good family essay topics to help get your creative juices flowing. Whether you're assigned this type of essay or simply want to explore the topic, these suggestions from our history essay writer are tailored to spark your imagination and prompt meaningful reflection on different aspects of family life.

So, take a moment to peruse the list. Choose the essay topics about family that resonate most with you. Then, dive in and start exploring your family's stories, traditions, and connections through your writing.

• Supporting Family Through Tough Times
• Staying Connected with Relatives
• Empathy and Compassion in Family Life
• Strengthening Bonds Through Family Gatherings
• Quality Time with Family: How Vital Is It?
• Navigating Family Relationships Across Generations
• Learning Kindness and Generosity in a Large Family
• Communication in Healthy Family Dynamics
• Forgiveness in Family Conflict Resolution
• Building Trust Among Extended Family
• Defining Family in Today's World
• Understanding Nuclear Family: Various Views and Cultural Differences
• Understanding Family Dynamics: Relationships Within the Family Unit
• What Defines a Family Member?
• Modernizing the Nuclear Family Concept
• Exploring Shared Beliefs Among Family Members
• Evolution of the Concept of Family Love Over Time
• Examining Family Expectations
• Modern Standards and the Idea of an Ideal Family
• Life Experiences and Perceptions of Family Life
• Genetics and Extended Family Connections
• Utilizing Family Trees for Ancestral Links
• The Role of Younger Siblings in Family Dynamics
• Tracing Family History Through Oral Tradition and Genealogy
• Tracing Family Values Through Your Family Tree
• Exploring Your Elder Sister's Legacy in the Family Tree
• Connecting Daily Habits to Family History
• Documenting and Preserving Your Family's Legacy
• Navigating Online Records and DNA Testing for Family History
• Tradition as a Tool for Family Resilience
• Involving Family in Daily Life to Maintain Traditions
• Creating New Traditions for a Small Family
• The Role of Traditions in Family Happiness
• Family Recipes and Bonding at House Parties
• Quality Time: The Secret Tradition for Family Happiness
• The Joy of Cousins Visiting for Christmas
• Including Family in Birthday Celebrations
• Balancing Traditions and Unconditional Love
• Building Family Bonds Through Traditions

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Family Essay Example

For a better grasp of the essay on family, our team of skilled writers has crafted a great example. It looks into the subject matter, allowing you to explore and understand the intricacies involved in creating compelling family essays. So, check out our meticulously crafted sample to discover how to craft essays that are not only well-written but also thought-provoking and impactful.

Final Outlook

In wrapping up, let's remember: a family essay gives students a chance to showcase their academic skills and creativity by sharing personal stories. However, it's important to stick to academic standards when writing about these topics. We hope our list of topics sparked your creativity and got you on your way to a reflective journey. And if you hit a rough patch, you can just ask us to ' do my essay for me ' for top-notch results!

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FAQs on Writing an Essay about Family

Family essays seem like something school children could be assigned at elementary schools, but family is no less important than climate change for our society today, and therefore it is one of the most central research themes.

Below you will find a list of frequently asked questions on family-related topics. Before you conduct research, scroll through them and find out how to write an essay about your family.

How to Write an Essay About Your Family History?

How to write an essay about a family member, how to write an essay about family and roots, how to write an essay about the importance of family.

Daniel Parker

is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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How to Go From Boring to Brilliant Family History Writing

So, you’ve done so much family history research that you’re drowning in facts and you’ve decided – that’s it – I’ve got to start writing some of this up!

Only now you are stuck. Don’t worry, you are not alone.

Unless you’re a bit of a Marvin (from Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy) you are probably perfectly fine at telling stories. I mean, we tell snippets of stories all the time, whether it’s moaning to the postman about our encounter with a grumpy lady in Tesco’s. Or explaining our Great-Grandfather to our 3rd cousin twice removed. We tell stories daily.

It’s often only when we come to write these stories down that we struggle. We can’t find the “right” words. We lose our voice. We get bogged down in details. We forget about our core story. The thing that made us want to tell it in the first place. We either stare at a blank white page, unable to even start writing OR we write tons of words – read them back and decide we’d like to delete the lot.

In this article, I’ll share some tips that’ll transform your family history writing. I’m not saying you are going to become a world-renowned author. We’re not all JK Rowling. But, when you give your cousin Sue the story about your great-gran, you can be sure she’ll read it, enjoy it and therefore remember it.

Table of Contents

Before you start writing your family history, decide your audience.

Sometimes our audience is clear, such as I’m writing this for my children. But, we don’t always have a particular person in mind. You may be writing up your family history for fun, to check for gaps in your research, as ‘cousin bait’, as a blog for fellow genealogists or professional reasons.

That’s fine, but you need to try to imagine who might be reading. Let’s use my blog post on my Woodrow witch ancestor as an example. It could attract unknown cousins, fellow genealogists or person’s interested in family history. It might attract those that like reading true stories.

These readers all have some things in common. They are unlikely to be children. They are likely to enjoy history. Yet, some readers may have lots of family history knowledge, others none at all. I need to ensure I don’t alienate anyone. For example, I use language appropriate to their reading age but without jargon.

Envisioning your audience, their likes and dislikes will help inform your writing.

Decide On The Message For Each Piece of Family History Writing

Your writing doesn’t have to have a deep and meaningful message. But, it does have to have some sort of point. For example, my blog post ‘ Blue Blood ‘ explores my illegitimate ancestor. I wanted to make my research journey clear and to inform readers of the parentage of my ancestor. That was my message. Whereas, my blog post ‘A Hidden Victim of Ripper Mania ‘ had a statement at its heart. I wanted to use my ancestor’s story to explore the effect of constricted gender roles. I wanted to show her story of suicide as a possible consequence of Victorian rigidity.

Regardless of whether your message is divisive, exploratory or informative, decide it before you start. Don’t let it get lost or diluted. Keep checking on your message. Are you getting to the point? Is it clear?

Set A Plan & Avoid Tangents

Before writing your family history make a plan. Exactly which ancestors are you going to cover? Over what time? Who will you start with? How will you break up their story? How does this plan work with your decided audience? Where will you show your message?

Setting a plan will give your writing structure. It’ll ensure you cover all the points you want to explore. It’ll ensure your message comes through. It’ll help you weed out or avoid random tangents.

Odd pieces of off-topic text can be very distracting. It’s easy to fall into a trap of including things because they are ‘interesting’. This is an error. Adding random pieces of content dilutes your story. It starts to feel rambling and the message becomes lost.

Writing Your Family History

If you can't write it, say it.

One of my favourite writing styles, especially for short stories, is ‘conversational’. I like to feel like the writer is sat next to me, sharing their tale over a cuppa. That’s not always easy to emulate. So cheat! Record yourself whilst you explain the story.

You don’t need anything fancy to do this. Download the free app Otter ( Google Play or Apple Store ) onto your phone. This nifty programme will listen to you talk and convert your words into text. It’s not perfect but its accuracy is impressive.

Next, take that speech-to-text and edit it. Use it as a starting point and build upon it.

Pay special attention to the words you use or turns of phase. This is your real voice. Use those phases in your family history writing to make it feel more authentic.

Use Endnotes or Footnotes to separate your family history writing from sources

You don’t have to put all your details within the body of the text. I have read a lot of family histories that start like this:

“My ancestor, John Brown was born on 5th June 1857. He was christened on 10 June 1857 in St Michael’s Church, Basingstoke. His older brother, Thomas was christened on the same day. Thomas was born on 20th March 1855.”

For an instant win, try putting some of those details in footnotes or endnotes, alongside any source information. Doing so transforms our sentence, to something like this:

“John and his older brother Thomas were both christened in the summer of 1857 at St Michael’s Church, Basingstoke.”

Bring Your Family History Writing To Life

Reading a list of facts is boring. We need details to help spark our imagination. Writing family history is challenging because we need both accuracy and imagination.

Let’s look at our 1857 christening example. It took place in the summer and it’d be easy to presume that the weather was hot. We need to check though! That June may have been infamous for its terrible weather.

Our example took place in a church. We may look at a photo of that stone building and presume it looked the same way in 1857. Again we need to check. What if the church flooded that year? What if the building we see today is a replica?

Once we’ve got our confirmed details though, we can use them to create texts rich in detail:

“Summer 1857 was hot and the parishioners of St Michael’s Church must have felt relieved to sit within the cool of the church’s thick stone walls. On 10th June the Brown family filled the congregation. A generation of bottoms squashed into the tiny pews. I imagine the new Brown babies (Thomas and John) cried as the icy holy water splashed onto their foreheads. Three years before them, a daughter had been baptised using that same deep stone font. Her little bottom was missing from the row of Browns that watched the ceremony. Perhaps her mother, Elizabeth was thinking of her as she hushed her son’s bawl…”

Find The Right Words

Successful authors tend to have a fantastic vocabulary. Reading widely can help you to expand your own. But, you can also use a thesaurus to aid you – especially if you find you are using the same words repetitively. There are loads of free thesaurus’ online.

It is also worth bearing in mind that old adage, “show not tell”. If you find your text is full of adjectives (describing words) then start pruning them! Replacing those adjectives with strong nouns can actually enhance your writing.

I recommend reading “ Kill Your Adjectives “. It really explains this concept in much more detail and gives some great examples.

Use Tech To Help With Grammar

Even the very best of writers make mistakes. That’s why they have proof readers and editors. Now, whilst using a real-life person is always best, that’s not always possible. So, use apps to try to fill the gap. Hemingway is a free editor. Type in your text and using various colours, it’ll highlight sections that use a passive voice or are hard to read. It’ll point out your use of adverbs too. Fixing these errors will lead to better writing. 

Other apps that can help include, Grammarly (a free app or chrome extension). It will point out all your spelling and grammatical errors. Underlined. In red. I hate it. I love it. It’s one of those kinds of relationships.

Editing and Proof-Reading

Apps aside, nothing beats a human eye on your work. In an ideal world, once completed, put your writing away. Leave it for at least a couple of weeks before you pick it up and start editing. Then finally hand it to someone else to read. Proof-reading is a talent. It’s why people get paid to do it! So, do what you can. Pass it to who you can. Don’t beat yourself up if 3 months later you look at it again and there’s an apostrophe in the wrong place.

Enhance Your Family History Writing

An image is worth 1000 words.

Those of us writing up our family history today have a huge advantage over our ancestors. We have the mighty power of the internet. Within seconds we can have access to quality photographs to add to our work.

Use images to “back up” the detail you’ve written or to separate large pieces of writing. These don’t have to be images of your ancestors. Use photos of buildings, maps, artwork, newspapers. Mix it up!

On a practical note, ensure you are not breaking any copyright laws. On Google Images select Settings-Advanced Search and filter by ‘Usage Rights’ to find images marked as shareable. Read the different levels of copyright and attribute your images as appropriate. If in doubt, check with whoever owns the image before you use it. If you can’t find someone to ask and are still unsure, then don’t use it. And yes, I know exactly how frustrating that can be!

Geograph is great for free images of places and buildings within the UK. You can also utilise sites like Unsplash , Pixabay  and Pexels to find free pictures. Use Canva to curate your own images and text graphics.

Add Charts To Your Family History Writing

Make use of another advantage available to modern genealogists. Create and add family tree diagrams to your text. These not only break up long passages but make the text itself easier to follow. Use charts to explain genetic relationships. Create these either within your family tree package or using Microsoft PowerPoint or Excel, or your Mac or Google equivalent.

Break Up Your Family History Writing

Depending on the length of your family history writing, consider using tools to make it easier to navigate. Very long works benefit from contents pages and indexes. All easily created in Word.

Shorter pieces may benefit from section breaks and sub-headings.

Give It A Title

People make snap decisions about what to read. Give your text the very best chance by giving it a great title. Use the Headline Analyser to see which of your ideas is worth pursuing. Or browse these 100+ blog title ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Do You Enjoy Writing Your Family History Stories?

Writing up your family history should be enjoyable. Be honest with yourself. If writing your family history feels like a form of torture then don’t do it! It’ll come through in your writing anyway. Writing up your ancestors’ lives is not the only method of recording their histories. You could simply do some oral recordings. You could try making a presentation.

Or you could join my Curious Descendants Club! With regular workshops and challenges, this Club is designed to help you write your family history. You can find all the details here, including testimonials from existing members .

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Family History Writing Prompts (Over 40!)

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Use your research in new and creative ways! The editors of Family Tree Magazine have compiled this list of family history writing prompts to help you get inspired. The answers you provide can be shared on a family history website, put into a book or kept with other genealogy records.

Family History Writing Prompts

Imagine you are one of your descendants, far in the future, writing about your present self. Write about an event from your own history from that perspective

Imagine you are a newspaper reporter and write an article about an event in your family history based on your research. Remember to include the who, what, when, where and why if you can!

Imagine your family represented as a literal “tree.” What kind of tree best represents your family’s story? What does it look like and why?

Did you grow up with any family traditions? What is the history behind the tradition? Do you practice any family traditions now?

Choose an event from your family’s history and write an alternative ending to it. Perhaps someone made a different choice or didn’t survive something; how would the course of your family’s history have changed?

Pick two ancestors from your family’s history who didn’t know each other, then imagine a scene where the two meet. What would they talk about, and what would their first impressions be of each other?

Imagine a holiday celebration your ancestor participated in. Narrate it as accurately as possible.

Write a thank-you-note to an ancestor. Who are you thanking? What did they contribute that you are thankful for?

What types of meals did your ancestor eat? Describe a mealtime scene from your family’s history.

Choose a favorite couple from your family’s history (or imagine one) and write a love note or poem they might have shared. Take the historical period into consideration!

Write one or more “six word stories” about your family’s history. Channel your inner-Hemingway .

Write about surname origins. Do your findings lineup or conflict with what you know or believe about your ancestors’ homeland? If not, highlight the puzzle and try to piece together a plausible answer to it.

What’s the whackiest or most interesting story you’ve heard passed down in your family or discovered in your research?

What types of clothes did your ancestors wear? Pick and ancestor and describe them in detail; what are they wearing and why?

Are there any naming traditions in your family? Write the story of how that tradition started or the stories of ancestors with that name.

Imagine your ancestor encountering something for the first time (new place, new food, new invention, etc.). Describe their first impression in detail.

Write a letter as if you are one of your ancestors. Who is the letter for and what does it say?

Imagine your ancestor making a big decision and narrate how they arrived at their conclusion.

Ask a child, grandchild or sibling what one thing they would like to know or learn about their family history. Ask them why they want to know that piece of information.

Looking at your family history, write down five life lessons you feel you’ve learned from your ancestors. Write an essay for the benefit of sharing with your children, grandchildren, and future descendants.

If you were to write a book about your family history or an ancestor’s history, what genre would it be and why?

Do you have a favorite quote or family saying from your history? Write the story of how that quote or saying came to be.

Imagine your ancestor had social media during their lifetime. Write a Facebook post or series of tweets describing something they’re witnessing in real-time.

Select a family heirloom (watch, quilt, Bible, etc.) and write a narrative from its perspective . Where has it been? How did your ancestor acquire it, and what would it have encountered throughout the years? What important family milestones might it have witnessed?

Imagine a typical day for a female ancestor. What time did she wake up, and what did she do throughout the day?

Select two ancestors who lived in different time periods, and describe a scene of the two interacting with each other over dinner. What do they talk about? What do they have in common?

Imagine and describe an event in your family’s history from an outsider/observer’s perspective. What was it like to be there? How did the event make them feel?

If your family history/ancestor’s story was a novel, what would the theme be?

Imagine a route your ancestor took frequently in his or her daily life. Describe that route in detail. What did they see? What noises could they hear? Where were they going?

Think of your ancestor as a character in a story; describe them as an author would. Go into as much detail as possible: what do they look like, how does their voice sound, what are their strongest personality traits?

Record a memory of one of your ancestors that you want to pass down to future generations —a parent, grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, etc. Set the scene: How old were each of you at the time? What happened? Why is this a memory you treasure?

Write a brief biography of yourself —everything an ancestor might want to know about you. After all, someday your ancestors will want to know as much about you as you do about yours!

Come up with a pitch for your ancestor’s biography. Is it a sultry tell-all, or a just-the-facts? What major theme(s) does it cover? Be sure to give the bio a title and sub-title, and write the book’s summary as it would appear on the back cover.

Select an ancestor who served in the military, and write a letter to him or her from the perspective of a loved one on the home front. Ask about his or her health, or the conditions in the war. Read real-life wartime letters for inspiration.

Write a paragraph describing three items your ancestor would never leave home without. Why are these objects so important to your ancestor? Where did they come from?

Identify a major event that happened during your ancestor’s lifetime, and (as your ancestor) write a first-person journal entry describing it. What would your ancestor have thought about it? Would he have found it exciting? Frightening? Frustrating?

Write a paragraph or two about your ancestor and their best friend. Imagine an adventure they had (real or imagined) based on what you know of their childhood and the time period and place they lived.

Imagine one or more of your ancestors as the characters in a fairy tale or fable. What role would they play, and what is the setting? What would be their fate?

Pick an ancestor from the 1800s, drop him into today, and (as your ancestor) write a letter to family members still in the 1800s. How would he describe today? What surprises him? What questions would he have?

Write a diary or journal entry that details your immigrant ancestor’s journey. What are their impressions of their fellow passengers? Research passenger lists and ship descriptions to make your description more accurate.

Describe your ancestors’ wedding. Study marriage certificates, wedding banns and photos, and contemporary clothing and rituals to fill in details.

Describe the first meeting between two of your ancestors who would later get married. What are their first impressions of each other? Include any details you know about your ancestor’s appearance, occupation, age at that time, etc.

Pick an ancestor’s hometown and do some research on how it was during your ancestor’s time. Use historical pictures/postcards and city directories to learn about the town, then write a brief tourism ad for the locale highlighting the town’s attractions.

Imagine the first time your ancestor got to vote. Write a letter from them to a relative detailing their impressions. Where was their polling place? What was the process like? What about the other people in line?

Select two ancestors who lived in different centuries, and describe a scene of the two interacting with each other. What do they talk about? How are they different from one another?

Select your favorite family photo, and write about the moments just before and/or after the photo was taken. Why was it taken? Was your ancestor happy to be in it?

Write a letter to an ancestor you’ve never met. Include questions you’ve always wanted to ask him or her, plus some that reflect what you’ve already learned about your ancestor (for example, “Do you enjoy your new job?” or “How are you coping with your father’s death?”).

Share these ideas with your students, writing group or genealogy group!

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How to Write an Essay About My Family History

A family comprises of people living together that form a social group within a community. The people creating this group are subject to relationships either by birth or blood, and it comprises at least two adults as parents and grandparents, together with young children. The family members have a mutual connection between them. Therefore, an essay about family history is a synopsis of an individual's social identity and the reciprocal relationship(s) he/she shares with the people living together. Learning family history is vital to understand our social status, humanity, and diversity. History keeps our memories for generations to understand who they are and their geographic origin. Having a good knowledge of family background lets you appreciate the things or sacrifices made before by grandparents to experience better things in life. An individual's roots and origin bring a sense of self-discovery. Also, writing about your family history is one way of preserving its heritage for future generations.

How to Start A Family History Essay

Outline writing, tips concerning writing a family history essay introduction, how to write body paragraphs, how to write a conclusion for a family history essay, essay revision, essay proofreading, make citations, catchy titles for an essay about family history, short example of a college essay about family history.

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When writing an essay, there is a logical structure you must follow in giving out your arguments. A proper outline will produce an exciting presentation of every section, and it will fascinate the reader. The standard structure of an essay has an introduction, body, and conclusion. Here is an excellent example of an outline for a family history essay:

• Introduction
• Short family background information
• Importance of writing about the family
• Body (paragraphs)
• Family members; grandparents, parents, and children
• The community in which family resides
• Form of livelihood
• Conclusion (a summarizing paragraph)
• Restating your contention
• Summarize your key ideas
• Provide a final comment or reflection about the essay

When writing a presentation about family history, you need to provide a hook to the readers, to make them interested to know much about the family. You can start with facts or anecdotes about grandparents; for example, how they met on the first date and opted to make a family together, you can as well describe the circumstances. You can also provide an insight into a situation by your ancestors that impacted your life experience—the other thing to include in the short background information about your family. Remember to provide a clear and debatable thesis statement that will serve as the roadmap for your discussion in the paper.

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The body paragraphs contain the arguments one needs to discuss the subject topic. Every section includes the main idea or explanatory statement as the first sentence; the primary purpose is a debatable point that you need to prove. The length of a paragraph depends on the accurate measurement of ideas. In most cases, a section has about five sentences; but it can be as short or long as you want, depending on what you discuss. A paragraph has the main statement, supporting sentence(s) with evidence, and concluding sentences. When crafting the body, ensure a clear flow of ideas, connecting from one argument to the other. Transitional words, when used accordingly, can provide a nice transition and flow of ideas from one paragraph to the other. The commonly used transitional words or phrases include moreover, also, therefore, consequently, hence, thus, finally, etc.

A conclusion is as crucial as the introduction; it is the final recap of what your essay entails. The ending paragraph contains three main parts that form a full section. First, remind the audience of your thesis statement and show its relation to the essay topic. Second, provide a summary of the key arguments that you discussed in the body paragraphs. Third, it is advisable to add a final comment or general reflection about the essay. It's important to state that you should use different wording in the conclusion when restating statements and arguments. Also, remember to use signal words at the start of concluding paragraphs like in conclusion, finish, etc.

Revision is an opportunity for a student to review the content in his/her paper and identify parts that need improvement. Some students start revising as they begin drafting their essays. During revision, you need to restructure and rearrange sentences to enhance your work quality and ensure the message reaches your audience well. Revising gives you a chance to recheck whether the essay has a short main idea and a thesis statement, a specific purpose, whether the introduction is strong enough to hook the audience and organization of the article. Also, you check if there is a clear transition from one paragraph to another and ascertain if the conclusion is competent enough to emphasize the purpose of the paper.

Nothing is more frustrating than submitting an essay to earn dismal grade due to silly common mistakes. Proofreading is an essential stage in the editing process. It is an opportunity for reviewing the paper, identifying and correcting common mistakes such as typos, punctuation, grammatical errors, etc. Since proofreading is the final part of the editing, proofread only after finishing the other editing stages like revision. It is advisable to get help from another pair of eyes; you can send the paper to your friend to help you in the same process. There are online proofreading tools such as Grammarly and Hemingway, which you can use to proofread, but you should not only rely on grammar checkers. Remember to proofread the document at least three times.

Making citations is an essential way of keeping references for the sources of content you used. As you are editing, you may make several changes to the document. Do not forget to correctly provide citations for every fact or quote you obtained from other sources. There are different citation formats such as APA, MLA, etc.; therefore, you need to ensure correct usage of quotes depending on the requirement by your professor. The sources you cite present the list of references or bibliography at the end of your essay for easy reference.

• Generation to Generation
• The Origin of My Family
• Our Circle and Family Heritage
• A Lifetime of Love
• Because of Two Lovebirds, I Am Here
• The Family Archives
• The Family Ties
• Branches of The Family Tree
• The Generational Genes
• Forever as a Family
• It All Started with a Date
• Bits of Yesteryears

Would you want to know how it all started until here? My grandpa told me that he met my grandma at a concert where one of the greatest artists was performing during one of the summer holidays in New York City. As he was dancing alone, my grandpa approached a beautiful lady (who would become his soulmate) to ask her to dance together. They later agreed to meet for a dinner date. Our family lives in New York. Undoubtedly, this is the best family, and it's an honor to be part of it.

Every person has two sides within his/her family; my paternal side originates from Canada, while the maternal side is from America. Although my great grandfather comes from Canada, my grandpa and grandma live in New York. My grandfather is Afro-American who worked as a bartender, no wonder he loved concerts! My father works as a conservationist for aquatic fauna while my mother works in the bakery. My mother and father met in a supermarket when they were both doing shopping.

Although we live in the same city, my grandparents have their apartment, a distance from ours. We live as a family of five; dad, mum, and three children. As we all live in the same city, we (me and my two sisters) occasionally visit our grandparents during the weekends to spend some time with them; grandpa and I were doing some gardening while my sisters and grandma do cook and other house chores. The bond between our great parents and ours is very excellent.

At Christmas, all my children, mum, and dad travel to our grandparents for a whole week. During the new year, we get together at our house, my parent's house, to welcome the year as an entire family. Sometimes during the weekends, we usually spend most of our time on the beach swimming, except on church days. As a family, our favorite food is deep-fried fish, rice, and vegetables. However, my grandpa likes chicken hash.

In conclusion, the social co-existence between us is excellent, which has created a robust mutual bond for the family. From visiting each other, spending time on the beach, having to get together meals to usher the new year, and celebrating Christmas as a family, the bond keeps growing. I am privileged to be part of such a great family.

How to Get the Best Family History Essay?

Every student would want to produce the best essay possible to earn a better grade. One way of getting information is through previously written materials such as essay samples. Pre-written essay samples have become popular recently among college students due to the vital information they offer. There are several sites, such as Essay Kitchen, that provide pre-written essays on family history at affordable prices. Students can use the essay samples to obtain enough content and idea about paper outline the professor expect; thus, producing a quality article.

Essay writing is a daunting experience for most college students. The academic pressure, coupled with a lot of other activities, makes the whole experience an ordeal. Some students have a lot of responsibilities and find themselves with limited time to handle their academic essays. Consequently, the students use online essay writing service 12 hours at Edu Jungles to write my essay for me at an affordable rate.

Knowing your family history is very important. It enables one to self-discover himself within the society and appreciate the lineage. When you learn about your family's past, you will understand the things you see and experience today. Writing an essay on family history requires a lot of understanding and attention to the aspects you need to describe. The critical factor being family background, then understanding how you need to structure and jot down your ideas.

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Family History Narrative

A little more than a decade ago, genealogists like me started to get the hang of nonfiction storytelling. This might not sound like a big deal, but it marked a significant change in the field: professional genealogy, after all, is dominated primarily by those of us who conduct research, provide clients with research reports and produce family tree charts. Until fairly recently, genealogists who published research results for clients or for themselves assembled facts into what we call “compiled genealogies”—tomes reciting only names, dates and places: “Delia Gordon was born 29 April 1860, Ardvarney, County Leitrim, Ireland; died 19 April 1925, Greenwich, Fairfield County, Conn.; married about 1886, likely in America, David Norris. They had the following children. . . .” These books were intended as references, so readability wasn’t an issue.

Then, in 1976, Alex Haley published “Roots,”a fictionalized version of his ancestry. Prior to that, having a genealogy traced was primarily for the status-conscious, those wishing to prove descent from America’s founding fathers and Old World gentry and royalty. Haley’s work sparked an interest in genealogy for the common person, descended from everyday, working-class folk. Haley also inspired genealogists to consider writing family history in the same storyteller fashion—while keeping the narrative true to the documented facts.

Early attempts in the 1970s through most of the 1990s often read like “Who’s Who” biographical sketches. Writers presented life events—beyond being “hatched, matched and dispatched”—chronologically: “Between 6 June 1900, when the 1900 U.S. federal census was taken, and the fall of 1901, David and Delia Norris and their children returned to Ireland. Then on 6 November 1901, the family came back to America on the ship Oceanic, sailing from Queenstown on 31 October 1901.” Readable, perhaps; interesting, no.

With more clients requesting compellingly told, factual family histories, a few professionals looked at what literary journalists and other creative nonfiction writers were doing. How were authors like Gay Talese, John McPhee and Joan Didion crafting life stories about people? How did they bridge gaps that remained after researching and interviewing? More important, where and how did they draw the line between fiction and nonfiction?

What emerged in the late 1990s was a genre a colleague and I dubbed “family history narrative,” a nonfiction story about ancestors’ lives. Rather than a cradle-to-grave approach, these narratives began with a dramatic event or life-altering decision in an ancestor’s life, such as leaving the Old Country or the death of a loved one. Some writers also used other creative writing devices—a narrative arc, scenes, imagery and metaphors—to bring an ancestor’s story to life on the page. These days, a few of us professional genealogists make a living turning skeletal names, dates and places into creative nonfiction narratives of ancestors’ lives. To attract clientele and to be able to show an example of their abilities, some professionals began by writing narratives about their own ancestors. This is what I did when I wrote “My Wild Irish Rose: The Life of Rose (Norris) (O’Connor) Fitzhugh and Her Mother, Delia (Gordon) Norris,” the story of my maternal Irish ancestry.

Most family histories are self-published, often with a limited distribution to family and to key research repositories such as the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, the world’s largest genealogical collection. Nowadays, many such histories are self-published through print-on-demand publishers and are for sale on Amazon or other booksellers’ Web sites. Most genealogical writers and their clients are not concerned about commercial publication or sales, though; their primary audiences are their families, not strangers. Even so, there is satisfaction in well-researched, compelling and fully documented narratives.

John Philip Colletta is another pioneer in melding sterile genealogical facts with creative writing techniques. In his 2000 book “Only a Few Bones: A True Account of the Rolling Fork Tragedy and Its Aftermath,” he turns his ancestors into “characters” by developing them through their actions as revealed in court documents, newspaper articles and other records. Using land records, county histories and historic maps, he writes descriptive scenes of a given place in time. He begins the story unconventionally, with a prologue that vividly imagines an 1873 event and draws in the reader:

I can see it now, the Ring & Co. store, blazing like a funeral pyre in the swampy desolation of the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta. Through the enormous flames lapping the walls and clawing across the roof, I see the outline of the two-and-a-half story building as though I were standing there, right in front of it, that Tuesday night, March 4, 1873. The heat sears my face and the smoke stings my eyes, though behind me the air is cool and filled with drizzle. . . .

Starting with Chapter 1, however, Colletta steps out of the story, reporting events and making inferences based on his ancestors’ actions and behaviors. He never enters the characters’ minds unless to speculate on what a person might have been thinking or feeling.

Because we genealogists often write about the distant past, with no living memory on which to rely, family history writing projects entail exhaustive research. We seek every potential document an ancestor, his family and his associates might have generated or created. This meticulous fact-finding enables us to write a fuller and more accurate account of an ancestor’s life and to feel comfortable recreating events we didn’t personally witness.

Even then, there is more historical background to uncover, more layers of necessary research. Colletta, for example, did extensive research on his ancestors as well as the historical context for his book, but discovered after it was published (isn’t that always the case?) that he had missed a few details. He painted this scene:

Attorneys, litigants and witnesses exit the courtroom, descend the long iron staircase and step out onto the portico. Lighting a cigar or pipe, or tucking a plug of tobacco inside the lower lip, the men watch the starlings poking in the rain-saturated lawn.

Sounds perfectly plausible, doesn’t it? But there’s a wee flaw. Colletta knew from the newspaper account that it had rained on and off during the proceedings. He had visited the Mississippi building where the trial had taken place and had seen starlings on the lawn. But he received an e-mail from an ornithologist who informed him that starlings weren’t introduced into the United States until 1890; the first sighting of a starling in Colletta’s setting wasn’t until the late 1890s, two decades after the event he describes. That is to say, most readers of narrative family histories expect a high degree of historical accuracy, not only with respect to the lives of ancestors but for the historical minutiae, too.

Like most creative nonfiction writers, genealogical writers draw an unbendable line between nonfiction and fiction. If a record or person hasn’t detailed an event that occurred or how something happened, we use speculative wording: perhaps, probably, likely, almost certainly. Peter Haring Judd, the author of “More Lasting Than Brass: A Thread of Family from Revolutionary New York to Industrial Connecticut,” used the qualifier probably, for example, when a person’s identity in records was uncertain: “In 1865, a William Clark was listed in the Minneapolis directory, identified as a grocer and flour trader—occupations in the family tradition. He was probably Julie’s first cousin once removed. . . .”

Genealogical writers also use supposition to fill in research gaps. Speculation isn’t produced simply for the sake of the story, however; there must be sufficient historical evidence to support the assumption that an ancestor likely did or did not do something. For example, in a family history I’m writing for a client, I don’t know for certain that the client’s ancestor Thomas Hillman was at the courthouse in Wise County, Virginia, on the morning of Sept. 2, 1892, for the widely publicized hanging of Talton Hall, a murderer, allegedly of 99 men. Because few in the area would miss out on such free entertainment, however, and because Thomas lived the majority of his life in Wise County and had regular dealings at the courthouse, recording land transactions, I’m almost certain he was there. From eyewitness accounts reported in the newspaper, I’m able to dramatize the scene and to place Thomas at the event, albeit using speculative language.

There are several types of family history narratives. They can be like Colletta’s; he reports as a historical literary journalist, employing numerous creative nonfiction devices: active verbs, scenes and a narrative arc. Or it can be a family biography, like Judd’s book. He writes in the style and voice of a traditional biographer, with less attention to making the prose pop on the page: “George was not an innovator like his father, nor was he mechanically minded. He slipped into the management of the family businesses and worked under his father for nearly 20 years. . . .”

Julie Foster Van Camp’s family history narrative, “Searching for Ichabod: His Eighteenth-Century Diary Leads Me Home,” might be called a family history memoir. She narrates her personal quest to learn about her ancestor: “The scent of freshly mowed grass seeps into my nostrils. Damp blades stick to my shoes as I walk alone, reading inscriptions, watching the September sunlight ripple across the graves in the pioneer section of Fairview Cemetery.” As a memoirist, she reflects and muses: “Rain pounds on my windshield, like the rat-a-tat of a hammer hitting small nails. Headlights blur my vision. My mind is a muddle. What do I expect to learn by driving across New York that I don’t already know about Ichabod? I feel foolish following his route. . . .”

Writers’ styles and approaches to the material may vary, but what almost all good family histories have in common is meticulous documentation. Genealogical standards require that every fact be cited in an endnote. The field of genealogy conforms to the current edition of “The Chicago Manual of Style” and to guides specific to genealogical records, such as Emily A. Croom’s “Genealogists’ Guide to Documentation and Citing Sources.” Because a genealogy is never “done”—there is always another branch or ancestor to explore—genealogists consider their work as springboards for other researchers. Tomorrow, next week or a decade from now, there might be more records available to supply additional information, or another writer may choose to take a different approach or write about a connected ancestral line. One thing is certain: There is never a lack of ancestors or material for writing family history narratives.

My Family History Essay Example

Family history is a journey that can take many different shapes. For some, it’s the story of how they became who they are today. For others, it might be simple curiosity about their roots or where their last name came from. It could also be an investigation into family secrets and mysteries for those with a more adventurous personality.

Writing an essay on family history is really challenging when it comes to describing every important aspect of it. That is why the essay sample serves an important purpose for the students here.

Essay Sample on My Family History

• Thesis Statement of My Family History Essay
• Introduction of My Family History Essay
• How Did Our Family use to live under a Single Roof?
• What are the Values that we learn by living in Joint Family?
• Causes that Separated the Family into little pieces

Thesis Statement of My Family History Essay This essay talks about my joint family or family tree in which we used to have a lot of fun and enjoy being together. Various glimpses of this happiness of togetherness is described in the essay below. Introduction of My Family History Essay Like every other family, we have our own family history which is illustrated herein details to the readers. The essay talks about how we used to live under a single roof and we have no need to set appointments to ask our elders for dinner. These joys of togetherness bring certain values in us as well like how to be happy among the people of different nature and hope. What is the result of being in togetherness that could be found in this essay? Readers will come to know about the instances that separate us from a joint family to a nuclear family in recent times. Main Body of My Family History Essay Here a detailed description of the family history is given to let you know about the era of happiness that used to exist in our life. Each and every single detail is given in this essay for better clarity of things. How Did Our Family use to live under a Single Roof? It dates back to the days when we were small kids and our grandmother used to feed us with a variety of dishes. Every day was like a festival for us as we were not supposed to go out for school and used to sit in the vicinity of our grandmother to listen to the different stories from her. We used to dine together and no one was supposed to watch television at the time of food. This is how we were spending our days happily. My parents were also very melodious towards us and everyone who visits our home at that time was bringing some refreshments to us. Hire USA Experts for My Family History Essay Order Now What are the Values that we learn by living in Joint Family? The joint family not only gave us happiness but at the same time, we adopt many values from our elders as well. For instance, living happily and ignoring the mistakes of others is the most important feature of residing in a joint family. That is what happened to us. We never fight with each other our siblings and always used to abide by the instructions of the parents whatever they ask us to do. More patience, compromise for small things, and becoming happy in the joy of others are some important things that we gained from our family history. The roots of love between the family members could easily be traced in those days. Causes that Separated the Family into little pieces As well said by a great philosopher that every good thing comes to an end eventually similar happened in our case as well. My grandmother died of cholera and we remain behind with the parents. As our age was gradually increasing we were sent to a school where the boring routine makes us remind of the old days and then the pressure of study starts suppressing our joy of being with the grandmother. We used to miss her for the entire long day, be that in the school hours or in the evening. Even the parents fail to continue the same routine of dining together owing to their jobs and all that we find around us was chaos in life. Buy Customized Essay on My Family History At Cheapest Price Order Now Conclusion The above essay draws a conclusion that it is a very positive thing to live in a joint family as it teaches values to us. But at the same time due to time constraints and technology-driven lifestyle we cannot suppose to cope up our life in joint families. This is how the family history has been narrated and it gives us a lesson that we should do something to save the ancient culture of staying together happily.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Family History — My Family History: A Comprehensive Report

My Family History: a Comprehensive Report

• Categories: Family History Family Values

About this sample

Words: 3024 |

16 min read

Published: Mar 28, 2023

Words: 3024 | Pages: 7 | 16 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, maternal great grandparents.

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50 Questions to Ask Relatives About Family History

ThoughtCo / Nusha Ashjaee

• Genealogy Fun
• Vital Records Around the World
• American History
• African American History
• African History
• Ancient History and Culture
• Asian History
• European History
• Latin American History
• Medieval & Renaissance History
• Military History
• The 20th Century
• Women's History
• Certificate in Genealogical Research, Boston University
• B.A., Carnegie Mellon University

A great way to uncover clues to your family history or to get great quotes for journaling in a heritage scrapbook is a family interview. By asking the right open-ended questions, you're sure to collect a wealth of family tales . Use this list of family history interview questions to help you get started, but be sure to personalize the interview with your own questions as well.

Questions About Their Childhood

• What is your full name? Why did your parents select this name for you? Did you have a nickname ?
• When and where were you born?
• How did your family come to live there?
• Were there other family members in the area? Who?
• What was the house (apartment, farm, etc.) like? How many rooms? Bathrooms? Did it have electricity? Indoor plumbing? Telephones?
• Were there any special items in the house that you remember?
• What is your earliest childhood memory?
• Describe the personalities of your family members.
• What kind of games did you play growing up?
• What was your favorite toy and why?
• What was your favorite thing to do for fun (movies, go to the beach, etc.)?
• Did you have family chores? What were they? Which was your least favorite?
• Did you receive an allowance? How much? Did you save your money or spend it?
• What was school like for you as a child? What were your best and worst subjects? Where did you attend grade school? High school? College?
• What school activities and sports did you participate in?
• Do you remember any fads from your youth? Popular hairstyles? Clothes?
• Who were your childhood heroes?
• What were your favorite songs and music genres?
• Did you have any pets? If so, what kind and what were their names?
• What was your religion growing up? What church, if any, did you attend?
• Were you ever mentioned in a newspaper?
• Who were your friends when you were growing up?

Questions About the Family

• What world events had the most impact on you when you were a child? Did any of them personally affect your family?
• Describe a typical family dinner. Did you all eat together as a family? Who did the cooking? What were your favorite foods ?
• How were holidays (birthdays, Christmas, etc.) celebrated in your family? Did your family have special traditions?
• How is the world today different from what it was like when you were a child?
• Who was the oldest relative you remember as a child? What do you remember about them?
• What do you know about your family surname ?
• Is there a naming tradition in your family, such as always giving the firstborn son the name of his paternal grandfather?
• What stories have come down to you about your parents? Grandparents? More distant ancestors?
• Are there any stories about famous or infamous relatives in your family?
• Have any recipes been passed down to you from family members?
• Are there any physical characteristics that run in your family?
• Are there any special heirlooms , photos, bibles, or other memorabilia that have been passed down in your family?

Questions About Their Adult Life

• What was the full name of your spouse? Siblings? Parents?
• When and how did you meet your spouse? What did you do on dates?
• What was it like when you proposed (or were proposed to)? Where and when did it happen? How did you feel?
• Where and when did you get married?
• What memory stands out the most from your wedding day?
• How would you describe your spouse? What do (did) you admire most about them?
• What do you believe is the key to a successful marriage?
• How did you find out you were going to be a parent for the first time?
• Why did you choose your children's names?
• What was your proudest moment as a parent?
• What did your family enjoy doing together?
• What was your profession and how did you choose it?
• If you could have had any other profession, what would it have been? Why wasn't this your first choice?
• Of all the things you learned from your parents, what do you feel was the most valuable?
• What accomplishments are you most proud of?
• What is the one thing you most want people to remember about you?

While these questions make great conversation starters, the best way to uncover the good stuff is through more of a storytelling session than a Q&A. 

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A Family Story About Colonialism and Its Aftereffects

Claire Messud tells a complicated and ambivalent tale about her French family’s history in Algeria.

To tell a story is to place a frame around wayward events. The storyteller points to scenes unfolding within the frame and says, This is important. The implication is that what transpires beyond those borders is less consequential, or not so at all. Susan Sontag offered a similar assessment in one of the final speeches she gave before her death: “To tell a story is to say: This is the important story. It is to reduce the spread and simultaneity of everything to something linear, a path.”

In the United States, many of our recent cultural battles about history are actually conflicts over where to place the frame. Does the American story start with a group of English pilgrims who landed at Plymouth in 1620? Or with the arrival of slaves at the British colony of Virginia a year before? Should we merely admire an ancient artifact we encounter in a museum, or extend our imagination to consider how it came to be there in the first place? In many fields—artistic, historical, political—people find themselves on opposite sides of a widening divide: those who believe that the frames we’ve inherited capture reality effectively, and those who believe that they must be expanded, adjusted, or perhaps jettisoned altogether.

Claire Messud’s latest novel, This Strange Eventful History , can be read in the context of this cultural shift. In many ways, it is a traditional tale, a multigenerational narrative that stretches from 1927 to 2010, and takes place across multiple continents, following the life and times of the Cassars. They are a French family from Algeria, part of the large expatriate community that arrived with the colonization of the country starting in 1830 and became known as pieds-noirs . (The novel, as Messud reveals in her author’s note, is based on her own family history.)

The pieds-noirs owed their presence to a conflict between France and Algeria tracing back to 1827. As a character in Messud’s novel puts it: “Basically, France owed a good deal of money to Hussein Dey, the Algerian leader, and rather than pay it, especially after he insulted us by hitting our consul with a fly whisk, we invaded the country.” The Indigenous population endured brutal treatment from the French (famously documented by Frantz Fanon in A Dying Colonialism ) and eventually instigated a revolution in 1954. The conflict raged until 1962, when Algeria achieved independence.

Read: The patron saint of political violence

This Strange Eventful History is set, at least initially, against this backdrop, and its contours suggest a story that has been told by many artists, such as Graham Greene in The Heart of the Matter and Sydney Pollack in the film adaptation of the memoir Out of Africa : an elaborate narrative about the travails of a relatively privileged colonial family whose members feel both connected to and estranged from the distant metropole. In these stories, the native people, living just beyond the borders of the frame, remain unacknowledged, or appear intermittently as background characters. Yet at the outset of her book, Messud hints at her intention to gently expand the limits of her novel to include perspectives that are not central to her story but nevertheless shape the lives and world of her main characters. Throughout this unfailingly ambitious work, Messud oscillates between modes, from a saga about a family that is defined by the loss of their adopted home to one that, in fits and starts, moves beyond the confines of its frame.

Perhaps the most revealing aspect of This Strange Eventful History is Messud’s seeming ambivalence about how to start it. The prologue announces her theory of storytelling through Chloe, the novel’s narrator and the character who serves as Messud’s stand-in. In a formulation that seems to contradict Sontag’s, Chloe says: “A story is not a line; it is a richer thing, one that circles and eddies, rises and falls, repeats upon itself.” She then describes how this perspective complicates her work: “And so this story—the story of my family—has many possible beginnings, or none … all and each a part of the vast and intricate web. Any version only partial.”

Messud passes back and forth before several possible doors through which she might enter her novel, all of them entryways to potentially rich and meaningful stories. The door that she spends the most time considering opens to her family’s remorse about its past and origins:

I could begin with the secrets and shame, the ineffable shame that in telling their story I would wish at last to heal. The shame of the family history, of the history into which we were born. (How to forget that after attending the birth of his first grandson, my father, elderly then, tripped on the curb and fell in the street, a toppled mountain, and as he lay with the white down of his near-bald head in the gutter’s muck he muttered not “Help me” but “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry”?)

It’s an arresting scene; the elderly man, brought low by gravity and maybe guilt as well, seems to be arriving at a kind of end-of-life awareness—if not comprehension of his direct culpability for the history into which he was born, then, perhaps, a flicker of understanding that his relative comfort might have come at the expense of others. Yet Messud-as-Chloe does not elaborate, and quickly moves on. This is emblematic of her approach throughout the novel; she does not focus solely on the story of the colonizers or the colonized, but does something more subtle. During the period of French rule in Algeria, the Indigenous population was subjected to appalling abuse (in A Dying Colonialism , Fanon describes “the overrunning of villages by the [French] troops, the confiscation of property and the raping of women, the pillaging of a country”). Messud’s decision to foreground the struggles and sorrows of the Cassars amid these circumstances doubles as a recognition of how humans metabolize suffering: Our particular experiences assume paramount importance, while political events are often folded into our personal dramas.

Messud eventually chooses an entry point—she opens in 1940 with a character named François, who is based on her father, writing a letter to his own father, who lives in Greece. François has recently traveled from Greece to Algeria with his younger sister, Denise; his mother; and his aunt. His father, a French naval officer, sent them away because of the rapidly accelerating conflict between the Allied and Axis powers. The children have never lived in Algeria, though their parents consider it home. As his mother makes clear to a young François, “This was where his family belonged, and where they had been from for a hundred years.”

In the next section, the novel dashes ahead several years; François, as a college student in Massachusetts, reminisces about his childhood in Algeria, a place he too now considers home. For the most part, This Strange Eventful History proceeds accordingly, skipping years and darting across the map, charting the stories of its central characters’ lives as they move around the world; as they get married, have children, and contend with life’s various trials.

Read: A redacted past slowly emerges

Yet there are notable moments when Messud widens her frame. In the following chapter, we meet an older Denise, now a law student in Algiers. One day, she writes to François in America about how she and her friends were recently struck by a car as they were gossiping outside a coffee shop. As Messud describes it:

The car attacked her from behind like a shark, a blue Deux Chevaux, it mounted the curb and took a bite, as it were, and then slipped back into the ocean, back onto the road—but the car wasn’t going fast —it could really have injured her if it had been going fast, right? It was perfectly calibrated—the speed, the silence, the suddenness—as if the driver had planned the whole thing, maybe a joke, but maybe to terrify, or terrorize her, if you’d rather, to make her afraid just to walk down the street laughing with her friends. To make her afraid to be. Why would someone do that? To Denise, who wouldn’t hurt a fly?

Denise is initially unsure whom she sees in the passenger seat of the departing car, but she suspects it is a “Berber girl from the provinces” whose name she cannot remember. By the time she recalls the girl’s name, however, she wonders if she is thinking of the right person: “Zohra, yes, Zohra, the name came back to her even as her certainty evaporated; maybe it hadn’t been her?” Only years later, after Zohra achieves notoriety as a resistance fighter, does Denise “insist that she had definitely seen Zohra Drif in the Deux Chevaux that morning.”

Messud’s decision to include this anecdote is essential for many reasons. First, the sudden appearance of the blue car represents a literal incursion into the blithe and serene reality that Denise and her friends inhabit, untroubled by the profound anguish of their Indigenous Algerian neighbors, such as Drif herself (the real Drif, now in her 80s, spoke with The Washington Post in 2021 about her time as a resistance fighter). It also represents a narrative incursion into the story of a pied-noir family that, despite its own desire for freedom and happiness, largely seems unable to recognize the struggles of Indigenous Algerians to achieve the same. And it is notable that Denise remains unsure about Drif’s presence at the scene of the crash until Drif’s fame motivates Denise to become the star of her own personal drama, an innocent who survived an “early salvo of the insurgency” with “only torn stockings and a constellation of bruises.” In her self-mythologizing, Denise narrows the “spread and simultaneity” of narrative possibilities—including the possibility that Drif wasn’t there—until she is the only person staring at us from the frame.

Messud’s strange and eventful novel leaps across space and time occasionally and subversively, including episodes that reveal the larger backdrop against which the lives of her characters take shape. Throughout, Messud seems to be transmitting a message to her readers about our contemporary relationship with stories: As our understanding of history becomes more complicated and nuanced, so too must the stories we tell about the past, and the way we tell them.

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The Strategies and Ventures that Built Andrew Carnegie’s Wealth

This essay about Andrew Carnegie highlights his rise from a poor immigrant to a wealthy industrialist. It details his strategic investments in the railroad and steel industries, his adoption of innovative production methods, and his emphasis on cost control and vertical integration. The essay also covers Carnegie’s labor disputes and his significant philanthropic efforts after selling Carnegie Steel to J.P. Morgan, creating U.S. Steel.

How it works

Andrew Carnegie’s rise from a poor Scottish immigrant to one of the wealthiest men in history is a tale of ambition, innovation, and strategic acumen. Born in 1835 in Dunfermline, Scotland, Carnegie immigrated to the United States with his family in 1848, settling in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. His journey from rags to riches is marked by a series of ventures and strategies that capitalized on the burgeoning industrial landscape of 19th-century America.

Carnegie’s initial foray into the workforce was humble; he started as a bobbin boy in a cotton factory, earning a meager .

20 per week. However, his keen intellect and relentless work ethic quickly propelled him through various positions. At 14, he became a telegraph messenger, a role that exposed him to the world of business and communication. His proficiency in telegraphy caught the attention of Thomas A. Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, who hired him as a secretary and personal telegrapher. This position was a turning point for Carnegie, providing him with invaluable insights into the railroad industry and the opportunity to forge influential connections.

One of Carnegie’s early strategic moves was his investment in the Woodruff Sleeping Car Company, which manufactured luxurious railroad sleeping cars. Recognizing the potential of railroads as the backbone of American infrastructure, Carnegie astutely invested in related businesses, including bridges, locomotives, and rails. His association with Scott and the Pennsylvania Railroad enabled him to gain a foothold in these ventures, which laid the foundation for his future success.

Carnegie’s strategic vision extended to vertical integration, a business model that would become his hallmark. Understanding the inefficiencies and costs associated with relying on external suppliers, he sought to control every aspect of production in his industries. This approach was particularly evident in his steel business, which became the cornerstone of his wealth.

In the early 1870s, Carnegie invested in the steel industry, recognizing its critical role in the nation’s industrialization. He established the J. Edgar Thomson Steel Works in 1875, named after the president of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Carnegie’s steel operations were revolutionary; he adopted the Bessemer process, a method that significantly reduced the cost and time required to produce steel. This innovation allowed him to outcompete other manufacturers and meet the growing demand for steel, driven by the expansion of railroads and urban infrastructure.

Carnegie’s commitment to technological advancement was unwavering. He continuously sought ways to improve efficiency and reduce costs. His steel plants were equipped with the latest machinery and operated under the principles of scientific management. He also employed skilled engineers and encouraged innovation within his workforce. This relentless pursuit of efficiency not only boosted productivity but also ensured that Carnegie’s steel was of the highest quality.

Another cornerstone of Carnegie’s strategy was his emphasis on cost control and economies of scale. He understood that larger operations could produce goods more cheaply and efficiently. By expanding his steel plants and incorporating advanced production techniques, Carnegie achieved significant economies of scale. This enabled him to lower prices, capture more market share, and drive competitors out of business. His ability to produce steel at lower costs while maintaining high quality gave him a decisive edge in the industry.

Carnegie’s business acumen extended beyond production. He was a shrewd negotiator and a master of leveraging his resources. He employed aggressive tactics to acquire competitors and consolidate his holdings. One notable example was his acquisition of the Homestead Steel Works, which solidified his dominance in the steel industry. He also formed strategic partnerships and alliances, including a pivotal collaboration with Henry Clay Frick, who played a crucial role in managing Carnegie’s steel operations and navigating labor disputes.

Labor relations were a significant challenge for Carnegie. The rapid expansion of his steel empire led to tensions with workers, culminating in the infamous Homestead Strike of 1892. The strike, marked by violent clashes between workers and private security forces, highlighted the stark contrast between Carnegie’s public persona as a philanthropist and the harsh realities faced by his workers. Although the strike was ultimately suppressed, it left a lasting impact on Carnegie’s legacy and the labor movement in America.

Despite these controversies, Carnegie’s philanthropic endeavors were monumental. In 1901, he sold Carnegie Steel to J.P. Morgan for $480 million, a deal that created U.S. Steel, the world’s first billion-dollar corporation. Carnegie then dedicated his wealth to various charitable causes, believing in the “Gospel of Wealth,” a philosophy that held that the rich had a moral obligation to distribute their wealth for the greater good of society. He established numerous libraries, educational institutions, and foundations, including Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. His philanthropic legacy continues to benefit millions worldwide.

In conclusion, Andrew Carnegie’s wealth was built through a combination of strategic investments, technological innovation, vertical integration, and aggressive business tactics. His ability to foresee and capitalize on industrial trends, coupled with his relentless pursuit of efficiency and cost control, established him as a titan of industry. While his legacy is marred by labor conflicts and the harsh realities of industrial capitalism, his contributions to philanthropy and education have left an indelible mark on society. Carnegie’s life story is a testament to the transformative power of ambition, ingenuity, and strategic vision in the pursuit of success.

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• Family Health History
• Family Health History Tools and Resources
• Family Health History and Pregnancy
• Family Health History and Your Child
• Family Health History for Adults
• Family Health History Resources for Health Professionals and Researchers
• MFHP Algorithms
• Genomics and Your Health
• About Cascade Testing
• Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer
• Hereditary Colorectal (Colon) Cancer
• Heart Disease, Family Health History, and Familial Hypercholesterolemia
• Public Health Genomics at CDC

What to know

If you have a family health history of a chronic disease such as cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, you are more likely to get that disease yourself. Knowing your family health history risk can help you—if you act on it. Share your family health history with your healthcare provider, who can help you take steps to prevent disease and catch it early if it develops. Finding disease early can often mean better health in the long run.

Knowing and acting on your family health history can be an important part of staying healthy. Family health history can help your healthcare provider decide what screening tests and other interventions you need and when. For example, if you have a parent or sibling diagnosed with breast cancer before age 50, your healthcare provider might refer you for cancer genetic counseling .

Whether you know a lot about your family health history or only a little, take time to talk to your family about their health histories. It might not be easy. Your family members might not be used to talking about their diseases or might not want to talk. But starting the conversation is important. Remember, you're asking not just for your own health, but for the health of everyone in your family.

If you have a medical condition, such as cancer , heart disease , or diabetes , be sure to let your family members know about your diagnosis. If you have had genetic testing done, share your results with your family members. If you are one of the older members of your family, you may know more about diseases and health conditions in your family, especially in relatives who are no longer living. Be sure to share this information with your younger relatives so that you may all benefit from knowing this family health history information.

Collect and share your family health history

Are you ready to collect your family health history but don’t know where to start? Here’s how!

Talk to your family. Write down the names of your close blood relatives from both sides of the family: parents, siblings, half-siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. Talk to these family members about what conditions they have or had, and at what age the conditions were first diagnosed. You might think you know about all of the conditions in your parents or siblings, but you might find out more information if you ask.

Ask questions. To find out about your risk for chronic diseases , ask your relatives about which of these diseases they have had and when they were diagnosed. Questions can include

• Do you have any chronic diseases, such as heart disease or diabetes, or health conditions such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol?
• Have you had any other serious diseases, such as cancer or stroke? What type of cancer?
• How old were you when each of these diseases and health conditions were diagnosed? (If your relative doesn’t remember the exact age, knowing the approximate age is still useful.)
• What is our family’s ancestry? From what countries did our ancestors come to the United States?
• What were the cause and age of death for relatives who have died?

Record the information and update it whenever you learn new family health history information . My Family Health Portrait , a free web-based tool, is helpful in organizing the information in your family health history. My Family Health Portrait allows you to share this information easily with your healthcare provider and other family members.

Share family health history information with your healthcare provider. If you are concerned about diseases that are common in your family, talk with your healthcare provider at your next visit. Even if you don't know all of your family health history information, share what you do know. Family health history information, even if incomplete, can help your healthcare provider decide which screening tests you need and when those tests should start.

Share your medical and family health history with your family members. If you have a medical condition, such as cancer, heart disease, or diabetes, be sure to let your family members know about your diagnosis. If you have had genetic testing done, share your results with your family members. If you are one of the older members of your family, you may know more about diseases and health conditions in your family, especially in relatives who are no longer living. Be sure to share this information with your younger relatives so that you may all benefit from knowing this family health history information.

Act on your family health history

Having a family health history of a disease doesn't mean that you or your family members will definitely get it. Knowing about your family health history of a disease can motivate you to take steps to lower your chances of getting the disease. You can’t change your family health history, but you can change unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking, not exercising or being active, and poor eating habits.

Talk with your healthcare provider about steps that you can take, including whether you should consider early screening for the disease. If you have a family health history of disease, you may have the most to gain from lifestyle changes and screening tests.

What you can do if you have a family health history of

• Colorectal cancer : If you have a mother, father, sister, brother, or other close family member who had colorectal cancer before age 50 or have multiple close family members with colorectal cancer, talk to your healthcare provider about whether you should have screening starting at a younger age, being done more frequently, and using colonoscopy only instead of other tests. In some cases, your healthcare provider may recommend that you have genetic counseling, and a genetic counselor may recommend genetic testing based on your family health history.
• Breast or ovarian cancer : If you have a parent, sibling, or child with breast cancer, follow current recommendations and start getting mammograms at age 40. If your relative was diagnosed with breast cancer before age 50, if you have a close relative with ovarian cancer, or if you have a male relative with breast cancer, your healthcare provider might refer you for cancer genetic counseling to find out if genetic testing is right for you. In some cases, your healthcare provider might recommend taking tamoxifen, raloxifene, or aromatase inhibitors, drugs that can decrease risk of developing breast cancer in some women.
• Heart disease : If you have a family health history of heart disease, you can take steps to lower your chances of getting heart disease . These steps can include eating a healthy diet, being physically active, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, limiting your alcohol use, having any screening tests that your healthcare provider recommends, and, in some cases, taking medication. If you or a family member has low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels over 190 mg/dL (or over 160 mg/dL in children), talk to your healthcare provider about getting checked for familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), especially if you have a family health history of early heart disease or heart attacks. If you have FH, you might need to take additional steps to maintain your health.
• Diabetes : If your mother, father, brother, or sister has type 2 diabetes, you and your other family members could have prediabetes and are more likely to get type 2 diabetes. While most people with type 2 diabetes are older adults, more and more children, teens, and young adults are developing type 2 diabetes. But there are important steps you and your children can take to prevent type 2 diabetes and reverse prediabetes if you have it. Take this test to find out if you or your family members could have prediabetes. Ask your healthcare provider whether you need earlier screening for diabetes. Find out more about the National Diabetes Prevention Program 's lifestyle change program and how to find a program near you .
• Osteoporosis : This is a medical condition where bones become weak and are more likely to break. A family health history of osteoporosis is one of a number of factors that make you more likely to develop osteoporosis. For example, if you are a white woman whose mother or father fractured a hip, talk to your healthcare provider about screening for osteoporosis earlier (at about age 55, compared with age 65 for most women).
• Hereditary Hemochromatosis : Hereditary hemochromatosis is a disorder in which the body can build up too much iron and can lead to serious liver damage and other problems. If you have a family member, especially a brother or sister, with hemochromatosis, you may be more likely to develop the condition yourself. Talk to your healthcare provider about testing for hemochromatosis and whether you should take steps to lower the amount of iron in your body.

Learn how collecting your family health history can help prevent disease or find it early.

For Everyone

Public health.