Kearney and Young Family History

My distance learning course started this week. So far I’ve accessed the online learning environment to find out more about the other participants and start the first session. I’m hoping it’s alright to write about it on my personal blog as well as through the Exeter Learning Environment.

We’re looking at three aspects of writing memoir and family history. These are:

• Your ancestry: the history of your family before you were born
• Your family story: the relatives and family who you’ve known during your lifetime
• Your personal history: your life as an individual, but with special relevance to your place in the family story and your ancestry

I’m hoping to focus on the first one as this most interests me.

After beginning to read the course notes I discovered the course reading list. I had a quick google and loved the sound of most of the books so I admit I’ve ordered a few. Even if I don’t get round to reading them during the course, I know I will still enjoy them. Hopefully I can review them here too.

My first challenge is to write a a brief ‘pen portrait’ of someone from my family, the person should be significant and I should have met them. I have to write it in less than 250 words. Wish me luck!