On April 30th 1856, word came to Mary Taylor and her family that in 21 days they would be sailing to America. It must have been so exciting and scary to have a sailing date for a trip they had dreamed about taking for years. A trip that would take many months to complete. A trip full of many dangers and hardship under the best of conditions.
This is the first of a series of posts about the milestones of Mary’s journey.
From Felton Annual Report 2010
I came across a different way to tell someone’s life story recently and I had to share it here. From what I can gather Nicholas Felton puts together what he calls an “annual report” each year. For 2010 he put together the life of his father all presented in charts and graphs. It is a whole new way to look at life and the stories behind it. I want to use this concept in a project in the near future. I’m not sure which one yet but I’ll keep you posted. Maybe it will be a quick project for Mother’s Day.
Can you visualize a project that you could use this concept with? I’d love to hear about it.
in process illustration by Kimberli Johnson of Mary and her mother
I’m so excited about this project! The goal of this project is to tell the story of my great-great-grandmother, Mary Taylor and her journey to Utah and do it in a way that is appealing to children of all ages. She was born in England and joined the Martin Handcart Company traveling to Utah in 1856. The fun part of this is that it will be a children’s book with about 30 illustrations. My niece, Kimberli is a talented young illustrator and she has agreed to take on this project.
The scary part of this project is that it looks like I might have to do the writing. I don’t consider myself a writer so this is a stretch for me. I’m hoping that someone will come along who is excited about the book and want to take on the author role. In the mean time it is up to me to move things forward.
Not a lot to show for it yet but the pieces are in place and they will move forward as life let them. We are planning a small square book that we will have printed by blurb. Kim and I have worked up an outline, starting with some ideas that her dad took from reading a history about Mary’s life. And you can see what she has done so far on in the illustration above. Here is an outline of what the book will cover and the illustrations or each spread or page.
I’ll post updates as this project moves forward. I can’t wait to see how it develops. Do you have any dream projects like this, that you have done or hope to do?
Another Monday and time to account for my work last week.
In the Navy – Key West Chapter: project about my dad’s 20 years in the U.S. Navy. The priority is the chapter on Key West so he can pass it on to the Under Water Swimmer School website to include in their history page.
Due Date: asap
I didn’t progress like I hoped I would but at least I got something done. I put all the photos I have from Key West on my parents Kindle. Now my dad can look at the photos and record information about them. I think I’m a bit intimidated by the thought of transcribing an audio tape. I haven’t had to tackle this before. I just need to get started on it and over come my procrastination.
Journal for Martin’s Cove Reunion: a half sheet size journal to help make the trek experience at Martin’s Cove more meaningful. Have time line of handcart company with info about Mary Taylor and her family along with space for journaling and possible adding photos or sketches.
Due Date: July 2012
As I reported in another post I gave the proof copy to my mom to check over for mistakes. I’ll probably let this project rest until I hear back from her.
Mary: a small (7×7) book about Mary Taylor’s childhood and her journey to the Salt Lake Valley with the Martin Handcart Company for children under 12 to learn about their pioneer ancestor.
Due Date: flexible – would love to have at least a draft for July Reunion
Nothing done on this last week other than giving my mom a copy of the outline. I feel like I should do some more reading about the Martin Handcart company before I try to tackle the narrative. Also until Kim gets a few of the illustrations done there is no pressing need.
Goals for this week:
So this week I’m going to dig into the Key West project and give it my focus.
Although I didn’t get to the Key West transcribing last week I did do another task that has been on my list for a long, long time, cleaning up my hard drives. Even though it isn’t directly working on family stories it will help as I look for things and save new projects. Over the last few years I ended up with 4 different hard drives with info. My main computer was in good order but the other three drives were a mess, with stuff scattered everywhere. It could still use some more organizing with in some of the folders but at least now all the history stuff is in one place as well as all the photos. Plus I have a plan for where everything needs to go.
What tactics do you use to keep all the info in you life in order? I work hard at being organized but with varying success so I’m always open to new ideas.
After getting an idea of what I wanted to do with the Martin’s Cove Journal, I was ready to get started. One of the things that I have found that it works best when using InDesign on a project like this is to start with a master page. Since this is a simple book I only did one master page (2 page spread) but on more complex projects there will be more master pages. Since I knew that I wanted a side bar on the left for a time line I first put a guide at 2 inches. Next I put a second guide at 2.25 inches to help me with spacing for the second text box on this page. On the right hand page of the master I made a series of lines as journaling guides. These line are just .25 points think and to make them even more subtle the stroke is a tint of 30% black.
left-hand page - Martin's Cove Journal
From here I applied the master page to most of the pages of the journal. Next I decided to pick the fonts for the project. I wanted a font that would help to create the mood of old pioneer and 1856 so I did a google search and found Fontscape’s typeface directory. They have fonts by period, so I looked at Victorian (1850 to 1890) but they didn’t seem right. Then I looked at Wild West (1850-1900). I decided on Birch which I liked plus I had on my computer too. I used Birch to do the time line but felt that the text of excerpt from Mary Taylor’s history would be better in something more like handwriting. We don’t have any journals from Mary Taylor but I wanted these entries to give that more intimate impression. After searching though my script fonts I settled on Rage Italic.
right-hand page - Martin's Cove Journal
When I got text placed into the time line and the excerpt I thought that the left page needed something to separate these two text boxes. So I went back to the master pages and added a line and adjusted the guides to accommodate the change. At this point I also added lines across the top of both pages and one across the bottom of the right hand page. While I was on the master pages I put in page numbers. At this point the journal is really started to take shape but it seems too sterile.
black swirl
splotch
I wanted it to have more of an old-fashioned feel so I went to the internet to find some clip art to enhance the pages. First I found a swirl at clker.com then a splotch at openclipart.com. I created another layer on the master page for these images. It took awhile playing around with placement and transparency to get the look I wanted. For the cover I placed the only photo I have of Mary Taylor and adjusted the swirls and the splotches to make the cover work.
The Handcart Song - Martin's Cove Journal
Another thing I wanted was a spot to put some information about what was happening in the rest of the world. So I adjusted the right hand page and added a text box on the bottom of the right page with room for a couple of events with dates. After I let the project sit for a day or two I decided to add the lyrics to “The Handcart Song” on the back. This was a favorite song of my great-great grandmother. Besides singing it as she traveled to Utah in 1856, she sang it her whole life.
pedigree chart - Martin's Cove Journal
The last thing I wanted in the journal was a pedigree chart. I made one using the pen tool to make straight lines. There is probably an easier way but I made a vertical line and a horizontal line and made copies of them to build the chart. After I got everything arranged I zoomed in to make sure the intersections of the lines was precise. Then I made text boxes for all the names. Note that I put these on another layer so that I wouldn’t accidentally mess up the pedigree chart while playing with the names. I also used Rage Italic to put relationship labels on the pedigree chart. I used the 30% black tint to make sure these didn’t compete with the names.
I showed my mom a proof copy yesterday and she is very excited. She said it would be worth going to Martin’s Cove just to get the journal. She is 89 years old so going to Martin’s Cove isn’t easy. My parents have decided to stay in a hotel. They don’t feel up to camping.
I haven’t figured out how to put the template here to download so if you would like an InDesign template for this project send an email to raelyn@tellingfamilytales.com. Did you find this post helpful? I’ve never tried to explain how I put together a book before and I’m not sure if what I wrote is the kind of information that is meaningful, so I’d love some feedback.
Last week I talked about the BYUtv series called The Generations Project. Now I want to go into a little more depth in how to “Do your own Generations Project”. If you haven’t seen this episode yet, take time to watch it. It is worth your time.
Step One – Finding Your Why:
Think about what your biggest challenge is and what you would like to change in your life. Be willing to let this be a process. Your “why” might change as you journey through your generations project. Here are the questions that The Generations Projects asks those who want to appear on The Generations Project
Step Two – Populate Your Tree:
Start close to home by checking with family members first to find information for your pedigree chart. The go to vital records to fill in the holes. This is the part where genealogist are experts. Think of it as a treasure hunt to find your ancestors.
Step Three – Mix It With History:
In this step you find the stories about your family member and then find out about the social history of the time. By doing this you really flesh out who that person was, they become real. One of the fun ways to mix it with history is to find a reenactment place. One that we went to several years ago was Plimoth Plantation. It is a working pilgrim village. For my generations project we are going to Martin’s Cove in Wyoming and doing a short handcart experience.
Step Four – Walk In Their Shoes:
Now you find a way to connect with your ancestor by doing something they did. It could be as extravagant as going to another country where they lived or as simple as eating the kinds of food that they ate. This step is about connecting with your family member.
Step Five – Share It & Watch It Ripple:
Last of all you want to share your experience with others. This often starts with writing down what happened to you on your generations project. Then it could be just sitting down and telling your family about what you learned and how you felt. It could be making a book, or painting a picture or writing a song. This is a very personal step and there is no wrong way to share your experience. After you share, you get to see how sharing your experience changes other people’s lives too.
My main purpose in doing this blog is to gather ways to share things like generations projects. I’m just getting started on this new focus for my blog so I’m still working through how to make this happen. If you have ways that you have shared a generations project I’d love to hear about it.
So it is Monday, the day to report my progress last week and my goals for the coming week.
In the Navy – Key West Chapter: project about my dad’s 20 years in the U.S. Navy. The priority is the chapter on Key West so he can pass it on to the Under Water Swimmer School website to include in their history page.
Due Date: asap
I still didn’t get anything done on this last week, but I did think about getting to it, if that counts for anything.
Journal for Martin’s Cove Reunion: a half sheet size journal to help make the trek experience at Martin’s Cove more meaningful. Have time line of handcart company with info about Mary Taylor and her family along with space for journaling and possible adding photos or sketches.
Due Date: July 2012
I made great progress on this last week. It needs checking over for mistakes and I’m still contemplating the binding. I’m really happy with how it came together. I’ll post on the details tomorrow. I haven’t done a logo for the Reunion and now I’m not sure if it is necessary. Maybe I’ll put that to the back burner and revisit it in a month or two.
Mary: a small (7×7) book about Mary Taylor’s childhood and her journey to the Salt Lake Valley with the Martin Handcart Company for children under 12 to learn about their pioneer ancestor.
Due Date: flexible – would love to have at least a draft for July Reunion
I’m really happy with what I got done on this too. After doing the timeline for the Martin’s Cove Journal I had a clearer idea of what should happen in this book. I took the outline that Eric did and consolidated a few things to one illustration and added a few thing. I sent a list to Kim of the illustrations we need and the basics of what the text will cover for each illustration. It a 40 page book, which is a very cost-effective number for Blurb where we plan to have it printed.
Goals for this week:
So this week I’m going to dig into the Key West project and give it my focus.
I really liked having this post to check back on during the week to help me be more focused in what I’m doing. I have a tendency to get sidetracked on projects other than what I should work on. How do you keep yourself focused on a particular task? Or do you just go with the flow? What works for you?
Earlier this year I discovered “The Generations Project” on BYUtv. We don’t watch broadcast TV but I found it one day when I went the BYUtv website. They have all three seasons episodes available and I’ve now seen all of them. I love the concept of exploring your family history with a purpose in mind and the impact that makes on people’s lives. They even have an episode called “Do Your Own Generations Project” that helps in figuring out how to take the principles they use on the show and apply it to your own genealogy. I’ve decided to do my own generations project this summer and I’ll post about it along the way. Actually I think I’ll start tomorrow with a journal I’m working on as part of this generations project.
In each show they start with helping the person to find out why they want to learn about their ancestors, then they fill out their family tree, learn about the history of that time period and finally walk in that ancestors shoes. The last step is to share what you have learned with others and watch how it affects their lives. Most of the shows are about 30 minutes long so if you haven’t seen it, hop on over to BYUtv.
I’m sold on the concepts they teach in the show and dedicated to helping other share what they know about their families. What do you think about “The Generations Project”?
I attended RootsTech this past February at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. There were lots of wonderful classes but I think my favorite was by Nancy Barnes “Use Adobe Creative Suite to Self Publish Your Family History Book”. I use InDesign, a page layout program that is part of Adobe Creative Suite all the time, so I wasn’t sure if I would learn anything in this class. But Nancy had lots of good information about developing an efficient workflow when putting together a book for publishing. I’ve learned some of her suggestions already and recognize the value of others from my own struggles. Nancy’s book “Stories To Tell: An easy guide to self publishing family history books & memoirs”, looks like it goes it to lots of details on how to get the book written and I’ll have to take time to read it. Here are some of the high lights of what I learned from her class.
Nancy taught us some tricks on how to use Adobe Bridge and meta files to put in captions. I haven’t tried this yet but it sounds slick. I’ll tell you about it and other more detail instructions on the step in other posts. Check out Nancy’s website www.StoriesToTellBooks.com. They offer lots of services from editing to book printing along with great information on putting together a family history.
Do you have a workflow plan that works for you? What software have you used?
Today I want to check the top priority projects now on my plate, report the progress I made last week and make goals about what I want to do in the coming week.
In the Navy – Key West Chapter: project about my dad’s 20 years in the U.S. Navy. The priority is the chapter on Key West so he can pass it on to the Under Water Swimmer School website to include in their history page.
Due Date: asap
I didn’t get anything done on this last week.
Journal for Martin’s Cove Reunion: a half sheet size journal to help make the trek experience at Martin’s Cove more meaningful. Have time line of handcart company with info about Mary Taylor and her family along with space for journaling and possible adding photos or sketches.
Due Date: July 2012
No progress to report from last week.
Mary: a small (7×7) book about Mary Taylor’s childhood and her journey to the Salt Lake Valley with the Martin Handcart Company for children under 12 to learn about their pioneer ancestor.
Due Date: flexible – would love to have at least a draft for July Reunion
Last week I:
Goals for this week:
Though I should probably work on “Key West” first, I’d like to get the illustration set for “Mary” so Kim can move forward on them as fast as she would like. And by working on the time line for the “Martin’s Cove” book that will help me to solidify the outline for “Mary.” So my goals are:
I’ll report back next Monday on how I did. Do you have any projects in the works? I’d love to hear about them.
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