My Mark On This World

50 Questions to Start Your Own Personal History

1. What is your full name? Why did your parents select this name for you? Did you have a nickname?
2. When and where were you born?
3. How did your family come to live there?
4. Were there other family members in the area? Who?
5. What was the house (apartment, farm, etc.) like? How many rooms? Bathrooms? Did it have electricity? Indoor plumbing? Telephones?
6. Were there any special items in the house that you remember?
7. What is your earliest childhood memory?
8. Describe the personalities of your family members.
9. What kind of games did you play growing up?
10. What was your favorite toy and why?
11. What was your favorite thing to do for fun (movies, beach, etc.)?
12. Did you have family chores? What were they? Which was your least favorite?
13. Did you receive an allowance? How much? Did you save your money or spend it?
14. 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?
15. What school activities and sports did you participate in?
16. Do you remember any fads from your youth? Popular hairstyles? Clothes?
17. Who were your childhood heroes?
18. What were your favorite songs and music?
19. Did you have any pets? If so, what kind and what were their names?
20. What was your religion growing up? What church, if any, did you attend?
21. Were you ever mentioned in a newspaper?
22. Who were your friends when you were growing up?
23. What world events had the most impact on you while you were growing up? Did any of them personally affect your family?
24. Describe a typical family dinner. Did you all eat together as a family? Who did the cooking? What were your favorite foods?
25. How were holidays (birthdays, Christmas, etc.) celebrated in your family? Did your family have special traditions?
26. How is the world today different from what it was like when you were a child?
27. Who was the oldest relative you remember as a child? What do you remember about them?
28. What do you know about your family surname?
29. Is there a naming tradition in your family, such as always giving the firstborn son the name of his paternal grandfather?
30. What stories have come down to you about your parents? Grandparents? More distant ancestors?
31. Are there any stories about famous or infamous relatives in your family?
32. Have any recipes been passed down to you from family members?
33. Are there any physical characteristics that run in your family?
34. Are there any special heirlooms, photos, bibles or other memorabilia that have been passed down in your family?
35. What was the full name of your spouse? Siblings? Parents? 36. When and how did you meet your spouse? What did you do on dates?
37. What was it like when you proposed (or were proposed to)? Where and when did it happen? How did you feel?
38. Where and when did you get married?
39. What memory stands out the most from your wedding day?
40. How would you describe your spouse? What do (did) you admire most about them?
41. What do you believe is the key to a successful marriage?
42. How did you find out your were going to be a parent for the first time?
43. Why did you choose your children's names?
44. What was your proudest moment as a parent?
45. What did your family enjoy doing together?
46. What was your profession and how did you choose it?
47. If you could have had any other profession what would it have been? Why wasn't it your first choice?
48. Of all the things you learned from your parents, which do you feel was the most valuable?
49. What accomplishments were you the most proud of?
50. What is the one thing you most want people to remember about you?

STRANGERS IN THE BOX

Come, look with me inside this drawer, In this box I've often seen, At the pictures, black and white, Faces proud, still, and serene.
I wish I knew the people, These strangers in the box, Their names and all their memories, Are lost among my socks.
I wonder what their lives were like, How did they spend their days? What about their special times? I'll never know their ways.
If only someone had taken time, To tell, who, what, where, and when, These faces of my heritage, Would come to life again.
Could this become the fate, Of the pictures we take today? The faces and the memories, Someday to be passed away?
Take time to save your stories, Seize the opportunity when it knocks, Or someday you and yours, Could be strangers in the box.

I am my own grandpa!

Many many years ago When I was twenty three, I got married to a widow Who was pretty as could be.
This widow had a grown-up daughter Who had hair of red. My father fell in love with her, And soon the two were wed.
This made my dad my son-in-law And changed my very life. My daughter was my mother, For she was my father's wife.
To complicate the matters worse, Although it brought me joy, I soon became the father Of a bouncing baby boy.
My little baby then became A brother-in-law to dad. And so became my uncle, Though it made me very sad.
For if he was my uncle, Then that also made him brother To the widow's grown-up daughter Who, of course, was my step-mother.
Father's wife then had a son, Who kept them on the run. And he became my grandson, For he was my daughter's son.
My wife is now my mother's mother And it makes me blue. Because, although she is my wife, She's my grandmother too.
If my wife is my grandmother, Then I am her grandchild. And every time I think of it, It simply drives me wild.
For now I have become The strangest case you ever saw. As the husband of my grandmother, I am my own grandpa!

Grant's Family Tree

			Grant Scouten Born: Marr: Died:
		Arthur Leigh Scouten Born: Marr: Died:	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
		\| \| \| \| \|	Florence Born: Died:
	Harwood Leigh Scouten	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	Albert S. Perry Born: Marr: Died:
	\| \| \| \| \|	Marie Jeanette Perry Born: 1902 Died:	\| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \|		Celia R. Born: Died:
Grant Leigh Scouten	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|		Christian Haines (Hoehn) Born: 1891 Marr:1919 Died: 1987
	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	Chester Christian Haines Born: 1921 Marr: 1939 Died: 1986	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \|	\| \| \| \| \|	Clara May Nobel Born: 1892 Died: 1946
	Jerry Patricia Haines	\| \| \| \| \|
		\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	Richard Lee Ralls Born: Marr: 1919 Died:
		Nina Patricia Ralls Born: 1924 Died: 1968	\| \| \| \| \|
			Eva Belle Miller Born: 1899 Died: 1965

My Family Tree

			Chester Grundy Boat Born: 1893 Marr: 1918 Died: 1952
		Roy Francis Boat Born: 1921 Marr: 1942 Died: 1977	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
		\| \| \| \| \|	Neva Mae Fixley Born: 1898 Died: 1975
	Ronald LeRoy Boat	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	Loren Dilbert Close Born: 1891 Marr: 1919 Died: 1979
	\| \| \| \| \|	Grace Hortnece Close Born: 1922 Died: 2008	\| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \|		Dortha Hortence Harris Born: 1898 Died: 1982
Christina Elaine Boat	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|		Raymond Curtis Martin Born: 1884 Marr:1905 Died: 1948
	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	Edwin Arland Martin Born: 1920 Marr: 1942 Died: 2002	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \|	\| \| \| \| \|	Laura Louisa Ebersol Born: 1885 Died: 1971
	Sally Jo Martin	\| \| \| \| \|
		\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	Leslie Elvin Wolfley Born: 1895 Marr: 1919 Died: 1933
		Mildred Inez Walfley Born: 1921 Died:	\| \| \| \| \|
			Edith Pearl Miller Born: 1899 Died: 1980

			Grant Scouten Born: Marr: Died:
		Arthur Leigh Scouten Born: Marr: Died:	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
		\| \| \| \| \|	Florence Born: Died:
	Harwood Leigh Scouten	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	Albert S. Perry Born: Marr: Died:
	\| \| \| \| \|	Marie Jeanette Perry Born: 1902 Died:	\| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \|		Celia R. Born: Died:
Grant Leigh Scouten	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|		Christian Haines (Hoehn) Born: 1891 Marr:1919 Died: 1987
	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	Chester Christian Haines Born: 1921 Marr: 1939 Died: 1986	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \|	\| \| \| \| \|	Clara May Nobel Born: 1892 Died: 1946
	Jerry Patricia Haines	\| \| \| \| \|
		\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	Richard Lee Ralls Born: Marr: 1919 Died:
		Nina Patricia Ralls Born: 1924 Died: 1968	\| \| \| \| \|
			Eva Belle Miller Born: 1899 Died: 1965

			Chester Grundy Boat Born: 1893 Marr: 1918 Died: 1952
		Roy Francis Boat Born: 1921 Marr: 1942 Died: 1977	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
		\| \| \| \| \|	Neva Mae Fixley Born: 1898 Died: 1975
	Ronald LeRoy Boat	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	Loren Dilbert Close Born: 1891 Marr: 1919 Died: 1979
	\| \| \| \| \|	Grace Hortnece Close Born: 1922 Died: 2008	\| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \|		Dortha Hortence Harris Born: 1898 Died: 1982
Christina Elaine Boat	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|		Raymond Curtis Martin Born: 1884 Marr:1905 Died: 1948
	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	Edwin Arland Martin Born: 1920 Marr: 1942 Died: 2002	\| \| \| \| \| \| \|
	\| \| \| \| \|	\| \| \| \| \|	Laura Louisa Ebersol Born: 1885 Died: 1971
	Sally Jo Martin	\| \| \| \| \|
		\| \| \| \| \| \| \|	Leslie Elvin Wolfley Born: 1895 Marr: 1919 Died: 1933
		Mildred Inez Walfley Born: 1921 Died:	\| \| \| \| \|
			Edith Pearl Miller Born: 1899 Died: 1980

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Wednesday, September 23, 2009

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