The Family Tree
By Terence L. Day
Terence L. Day, genealogist and journalist, is on the Washington State University faculty. He welcomes e-mail at genealogy@moscow.com, or regular mail in care of the Tri-City Herald City newsroom, P.O. Box 2608, Tri-Cities, WA 99302-2608.
Journaling is a gift to yourself today, to your descendants tomorrow
This story was published Aug. 20, 2000
Recently, I offered to take my family on an outing to Mount Misery and Mount Horrible, south of Pomeroy in the Umatilla National Forest, where I fought forest fires in 1960.
One of my adult daughters, Elisabeth, said, "I didn't know you fought forest fires!"
But for that chance mention, I suppose Beth may never have learned about this facet of her father's early life ... unless someday she read my journal or the autobiography that I occasionally dust off and work on.
It's truly amazing how much we don't know about our ancestors because they didn't keep diaries or journals. It's even more amazing how much we forget about ourselves if we don't write things down.
So far I've kept three main journals.
My first one was started in 1960, when I was discharged from the Air Force. It is in a stitched book.
My second was a special journal, kept in a smaller bound book. It contains my Ethiopian experiences, in June, July and August 1978.
My current journal was started when I got my first computer back in the 1980s. I write in my computer and print the pages, then put them in a three-ring binder.
Ruth and I also have kept mini-journals of some of our travels. These we keep in Mead Composition notebooks because they are a convenient size for writing in the car (93/4-by-71/2) and have a stitched binding for durability.
One of my brothers thinks we're certifiably bonkers for writing down what time we hit the road, when and where we stop for gas, how much we pay and observations along the way. But, hey, what would we know about pioneers crossing the plains if none of them had kept journals?
At some distant time, our descendants may be as interested in our primitive travel as we are in our great-grandparents' arduous journeys.
Heck, a lot of my contemporaries think it's pretty bizarre that Ruth and I prefer to drive to San Diego than fly.
What I wouldn't give for my great-grandfather's Civil War diary or journal! Problem is, I'm pretty sure he didn't keep one. If he did, it probably went up in the same blaze that consumed the family Bible and his uniforms and Civil War papers.
It's tempting to believe that no one keeps diaries or journals any more. After all, the art of correspondence is fast dying. Who writes letters these days?
Yet, there might be a clue in the e-mail phenomenon. In many families, people who would rather be shot than write a post card, are sending several e-mail messages a day to family and friends all over the world.
The same technology that makes e-mail so easy also facilitates keeping diaries and journals.
In fact, software applications have been written for that very purpose. Some genealogy software packages include these applications.
However, family history is only one of many reasons to keep diaries and journals.
Before we go into that, though, let's talk about the difference between a diary and a journal.
The main difference is complexity. A diary is a record of brief notations about activities or events.
A journal is much more complex. A good journal contains details of events, as well as emotions, opinions, hopes, aspirations and fears. It tells what the person keeping the journal thinks about what happens.
I invite you to visit Suite101.com's journal writing page. You'll find it at www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/journal_writing. There you will find a discussion of 10 reasons for keeping a journal. Family history is only one of them.
Some use a journal as a means of learning more about themselves. Some keep a journal as a creative exercise. For others there is emotional therapy in journaling.
If ever you sit down to write your life's story - an autobiography - you'll be one happy camper if you've kept a journal.
Perhaps you will never write up your life's story, but maybe one of your children or grandchildren will. Then, they'll praise you for keeping a journal.
* Terence L. Day, genealogist and journalist, is on the Washington State University faculty. He writes genealogy columns for the Tri-City Herald and the Salt Lake Tribune. He welcomes e-mail at genealogy@moscow.com, or regular mail in care of the Tri-City Herald newsroom, P.O. Box 2608, Tri-Cities, WA 99302-2608.