Horizon Passenger Lists

Posted on September 19, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

image of the Horizon passenger list

I recently created a Facebook page for the Martin Handcart Company, since there wasn’t one and since my great-great-grandmother was part of that company. I’ve started to gather information about the Martin Company and today I discovered that Mormon Migration website not only has a list of the passengers on the Horizon (the ship that the Martin Handcart Company took from Liverpool, England to Boston, Massachusetts) but they have images of the pages from the ship’s book where all the names where originally record. I’m really excited to take some time and find Mary Taylor and her family.

I love the power of the internet to share images of documents like these. Have you found something similar through the internet in your family history?

“My Grandma Mary” on Amazon!

Posted on July 23, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

I just checked on Amazon and “My Grandma Mary” is there and available for sale! It is amazing to see it there for real. I Just had to share this milestone in family stories here. Plus we got it done by Pioneer Day, which is July 24th. The day that Brigham Young and the first batch of Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. I seems like a fitting day to complete this step of my journey to learn about Mary Taylor and share her story.

“My Grandma Mary” update – hidden pictures

Posted on July 22, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

So I’ve official finished editing “My Grandma Mary” and now we are just waiting for the box of books I’ve ordered to print! I’m so excited and nervous as the same time. That takes me to the next step in the Doable approaching to telling your family stories, link. This book brings a whole new area to learn in sharing it with a broader audience.

One of the fun things about this book is that we have put hidden images throughout the book that represent other stories from the Martin Handcart Company that we didn’t put into the main storyline. The book refers to this blog for help in finding these images. I decided to do 4 levels of hints. The first level of hints in under the “My Grandma Mary” tab above and the rest I wrote as post that you can see below. I have links to these posts of the “My Grandma Mary” tab. Hopefully that this will work well in helping those who get stuck finding all the images. Some of them are really pretty easy but some are much harder.

“My Grandma Mary” update

Posted on July 15, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

I got the proof for “My Grandma Mary” on Friday afternoon! Yeah! Overall it looks good but a few of the illustrations are too dark and I forgot the retail price on the back cover. So today I’ve adjusted illustrations and made some more edits. I plan to upload the revisions tomorrow and go from there. One disadvantage of Lightning Source is that there is a charge for every time you upload a new file.

“My Grandma Mary” update (tellingfamilytales.com)
“My Grandma Mary” update (tellingfamilytales.com)

“My Grandma Mary” update

Posted on July 8, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

I seem to have jumped through all the hoops to get a proof copy of “My Grandma Mary” printed by Lightning Source! I got an email today confirming the order from last week. The holiday has slowed things down but if I understand how it works, I should have the proof copy in my hand this week! I’m really excited to see it. If everything looks good than I will make it available for sell asap. My mom is usually really patient about histories but on this one she asks me about it every time I talk to her. It has taken a long time to get to this point. I’ve learned so much. But I’m sure there is a lot more to learn.

One thing I’ve realized is I’m glad there are places like Blurb and places like Lightning Source. Even though they are both print on demand companies their business models and target customers are completely different. I can see that I’ll be using both companies in the future depending on the project. For small runs, Blurb is a better choice. For books with a larger audience Lightning Source can be the better choice. While Blurb has a higher price per book they have no set up costs and no on going cost to keep the book available to print. While LSI has a much cheaper price per book they set up cost of about $100 mean you have to order at least a certain number of books to make it more cost-effective than Blurb. In the case of “My Grandma Mary” you have to order at least 5 copies to make LSI a more cost-effective option.

I’m still waiting to see how the quality of Lightning Source compares to Blurb.

“My Grandma Mary” update (tellingfamilytales.com)

Adjectives for Focus

Posted on May 30, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

Making a list of adjectives that describe what you want your finished story project to be can help you stay focused on the desired outcome. Think of the words not only as guides but also as inspiration as you move forward with your project. It would be a great to post your list of adjectives where you can see them and remember why you are doing your story project. You could add sketches or pictures or anything that helps to communicate the feelings you want your project to generate in those you will share it with.

Using “My Grandma Mary” again as an example, here are a list of adjectives for what I hoped to do:

appealing (I wanted it to draw the child into the story)
accurate (I wanted it be true to the known facts)
ageless (I hoped to appeal to many age groups for many years to come)
appropriate (I wanted the information shared to take into account the age of the target audience)
courageous (I wanted the courage of Mary and the other pioneer to be felt)
determined (I wanted the reader to understand that it took determination to reach Utah)
grandmotherly (I wanted the reader to relate to Mary Taylor as if she were their own grandma)
happy (I wanted the happy times of Mary’s life and journey to be present too)
hopeful (I wanted the kids to know that they can have hope even when things are at their worst)
hungry (I wanted them to understand how very hungry she was)
inspirational (I wanted Mary’s story to inspire them)
short (I wanted to keep the story short and easily read in a few minutes)
spiritual (I wanted the reader to feel Mary’s testimony)
thankful (I wanted the reader to feel Mary’s gratitude despite the trials of her life)

Another thing to keep in mind as you start on a new story project is who the intended audience is. With “My Grandma Mary” I kept in mind that I wanted it to most appealing for kids between 5 and 10 years old. Remembering this helped with many important decisions along the way.

Try making an adjective list about a new story project or one that you are already working on and see if the process is helpful for you.

The Many Mediums of a Story Project (tellingfamilytales.com)
My Grandma Mary

The Many Mediums of a Story Project

Posted on May 29, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

Let’s say that you’ve narrowed down your story project and have a good idea of what you want to do and why you want to do this story project, the next big question is what medium to do want to use to tell this story?

I’ll use my great-great-grandmother, Mary Taylor again as an example. I knew I wanted to do a story project about her and I had decided that I wanted to focus on her journey from England to Utah with the Martin Handcart company. I also knew that I wanted to do something that would be appealing to kids. I figured that if it was approachable for kids, adults would take time to learn about Mary Taylor too.

So looking at the 100 story projects post, and narrow it down. My first run through I deleted things that weren’t about her journey. That got me down to about 40 Then I deleted those that would not be very appealing to children. That took off about 20 more. Next I looked again at which ones would really tell the story of her journey and not just aspects of her experience and would appeal to kids ages 5 to 10. That got me down to the following list:

make a story book with illustration of Mary’s childhood and journey to Zion (did that – it is so close to being ready to publish)
make that story book into an ebook
make that story book into an enhanced ebook with sound etc.
make that story book into a video with narration and background music
make a coloring book about Mary’s life (I could probably adapt the illustrations from “My Grandma Mary” for this)
design surprise balls that tell a story about Mary Taylor
make puppets to act out stories from Mary Taylor’s life
make a video of the puppet show
put together a story box about Mary Taylor

Looking at this more focused short list you could do some more brainstorming and ask yourself are there some different media that I could use to expand this list. Here are some extra ideas that come to mind:

make an animated video using claymation or other media
make paper dolls for the characters in Mary’s story
instead of having an adult illustrate the book have a child or children draw the images after learning about Mary’s story

The first five could be grouped together, because in completing the first one (make a story book), much of the work is already done for the next three. It is sharing it and enhancing it in different ways. Using different media. In some ways the story box could be the final end of several story projects about Mary Taylor all with the goal in mind of creating a story box about her life and/or her journey to Utah in 1856. The box could contain the story book and/or ebook, video etc, a coloring book, puppets and a script or scripts to perform or a video, and a surprise ball as a kind of summary of Mary’s story and trinkets to remind the kids what they learned about their ancestor. That would be really cool.

I didn’t make this list when I started the story book about Mary’s journey, but if I had I would then need to choose which story project to do first. The story box would be out because it is more appropriate as a long-term goal. Someone with more experience with puppets and script writing might pick that as a first project. But since my experience is mainly with books I would probably still pick that as my first project. Even the color book idea is a natural extension of the story book. If I was more comfortable with video that could be the starter project and then the book would be taken from still of the video. There are lots of options and mediums. Which one or ones you choose depends on you, your talents, your interests and your resources. The story book project turned out to be perfect for me because my niece was on board to illustrate it.

Does this example help you to see how to take a long list that you have brainstormed and narrow it down. There is not one right answer for a story project. Follow your intuition and move forward. This can be a fun process so let it inspire you. Then keep that vision alive as you take the many steps to complete your story project.

I’ve been inspired by this brainstorming exercise, I hope you have too. Now it is time for you to do something similar for your next story project!

100 Story Project Ideas (tellingfamilytales.com)

100 Story Project Ideas

Posted on May 28, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

There are so many types of story projects. Let’s use one of my projects as an example. Many months ago I decided I wanted to learn more about my great-great-grandmother, Mary Taylor and share some of that with my family. This has lead to several story projects about her that I’ve already done and many more that I would like to do. I’m sure there are even more that I haven’t even thought of yet. Let’s see how many different story projects I can come up with about Mary Taylor:

go to Martin’s Cove for a hands on experience (did that)
make a video from our experience in Martin’s Cove
make a simple book to share with family about her life and her journey with the Martin handcart company (did that)
build a handcart replica
live for one day or even one meal on the rations that the Martin Handcart company had
reenact the journey of the Martin Handcart company from its start in Liverpool England to its arrival in the Salt Lake Valley
build a diorama of Coton-on-the-Elms
build a model of the ship Horizon
follow the journey of the Martin Handcart company day by day in 1856 (did that)
make a serial graphic novel based on the experiences of the hardcart pioneers
share it to coincide with Mary’s journey to Zion
travel to England the area that Mary grew up
write about my experiences and share it with my family
use google earth to take a virtual journey to Mary’s birthplace
use google earth to follow Mary’s journey with the Martin Handcart company
make it into a video to share with others
using google earth create a virtual scavenger hunt about Mary’s life and the places she has been
make a story book with illustration of Mary’s childhood and journey to Zion (did that – it is so close to being ready to publish)
make that story book into an ebook
make that story book into an enhanced ebook with sound etc.
make that story book into a video with narration and background music
using family members make a video about Mary Taylor
make a music video with Mary favorite song “The Handcart Song”
learn the Mary’s childhood song “In the Merry Green Fields of Oland” similar to “Old McDonald“
make an illustrated video of “In the Merry Green Fields of Oland”
make an illustrated children’s book inspired by “In the Merry Green Fields of Oland”
create a board game inspired by the handcart pioneers
learn and then teach how to play the game “Going to Zion”
learn to make simple toys from Mary’s time and share them with my family
make a video game inspired by the experiences of the handcart pioneers
Gather photos of all the known possessions of Mary Taylor and put them into a book form to share with family, including stories about each item
also share that book as an ebook
learn about cooking in the late 19th century in England and Utah
make how to videos to share what I learn
make a cookbook with recipes that Mary probably cooked
learn homemaking skills for the late 19th century
learn about dressmaking in the 1850s
learn about the French surge dress we have that Mary made
create a modern-day pattern for her dress
create craft and/or home decor ideas using Mary’s dress making skills
make a quilt about Mary’s Life
make a quilt about the Martin Handcart Company
make patterns for those quilts to share with others including the stories behind the blocks chosen
learn about the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when that Mary joined the church in England
watch “Seventeen Miracles” and/or other pioneer movies as a family
organize a Mary Taylor descendants reunion
compile all the descendants of Mary Taylor into a book
make a Facebook page for the descendants of Mary Taylor
design a charm necklace/key chain in honor of Mary Taylor
visit Mary’s grave site
visit all know locations that she lived
do a “decades” book about Mary’s life
do something everyday for one year to honor Mary
compile those experiences into a book
compile those experiences into a video
write a book about what Mary has taught me
design surprise balls that tell a story about Mary Taylor
create a memory jar in honor of Mary and/or my experiences learning about her
put together a story box about Mary Taylor
make a music cd inspire by Mary Taylor including “The Handcart Song”, “In the Merry Green Fields of Oland” and other songs from the late 19th century
make a shadow box about Mary Taylor (I’ve sort of done this with a tea-cup that was hers but there is much more that I could do)
make a coloring book about Mary’s life (I could probably adapt the illustration from “My Grandma Mary” for this)
give a gift basket inspired by Mary Taylor – include other story project like “My Grandma Mary” in the basket
make a memory wreath about Mary Taylor
make an old-fashioned Christmas wreath inspired by Mary Taylor with decoration from the late 19th century
make a doll house inspired by one of Mary Taylor’s homes
research the history of each of Mary’s last names: Taylor, Upton, Simmons and Robinson
put together a book about Mary’s names
find any coat of arms from Mary’s history or design a coat of arms inspired by her life
make t-shirts inspired by Mary Taylor
find and/or create maps about Mary Taylor’s life
make a calendar for the coming year with all the important dates in Mary Taylor’s life
celebrate Mary Taylor’s birthday
make a trivia game with facts about Mary Taylor and life in the late 19th century
make an audio record of stories about Mary Taylor – recruit family members to help with this project
make puppets to act out stories from Mary Taylor’s life
make a video of the puppet show
pick one of Mary’s home and research the history of that spot
make duplicates of the photo we have of Mary Taylor and make sure everyone in the family has a copy
create a collage about Mary Taylor
make a Christmas ornament with Mary Taylor’s photo
make or find Christmas ornaments like those common in Mary’s Life time
plan a Christmas meal similar to what Mary Taylor would have enjoyed
decorate your house and/or Christmas tree in the way in would have been done in the late 19th century
make flash cards about Mary Taylor’s life
make flash cards about the Willie and Martin Handcart companies
make a memory game inspired by Mary Taylor
gather family traditions from the late 19th century and choose a few to make a part of your traditions in honor of Mary Taylor
keep a record of your new family traditions so that future generations will know where they came from
set up a photo shoot inspired by the late 19th century and invite family members to get their photos taken
compile these photos into a book to share with everyone
make an advent calendar inspired by Mary Taylor and/or the late 19th century
make a puzzle with Mary Taylor’s picture or a collage or a set of puzzles from the illustrations in “My Grandma Mary” book
make a family tree that shows the connection between Mary Taylor and each family member
make a Christmas card inspire by Mary Taylor (did that)
make a time capsule with all the things we all the Mary Taylor story projects
write a song about Mary Taylor and what she means to me
make a family planner with facts about Mary Taylor and important dates in her life
make an infographic about Mary Taylor
have “Mary Taylor” come for dinner

Most of these idea could be applied to your ancestor and there are many more story project ideas that you could come up with. There is no shortage of ideas. The challenge is to choose one and make it happen. Remember to start with smaller simpler projects.

Did my list inspire you? If you don’t already have a story project you are working on, I challenge you to decide on one today.

My Grandma Mary Preview

Posted on March 25, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

My Grandma Mary by Raelyn Webster | Make Your Own Book

Fedex tracking say I’ll be getting a proof copy of the book about my great-great-grandmother, Mary Taylor tomorrow. I’m so excited to see it. I’m expecting to need to make some changes before it will be ready but this is a big milestone for me.

Mary Book Update

Posted on March 11, 2013 by tellingfamilytales

cover illustration by Kimberli Johnson

We are so close to being ready to print a proof copy of our Mary Taylor story book. In a perfect world we will be doing that the end of the week. Since the world isn’t usually perfect it might be a few days later than that. Kim got me two more illustrations done. The one above will do double duty as the cover and one of the middle illustration. On the cover I cropped the image in to show just Mary.

The illustration below will be the first one in the book and then we will crop it down as tight as we can for the last image in the book. I’ve got at least one more edit on the text to do. And if a friend who teaches writing classes has time there will be another one before the we print the proof. The plan is to present the proof copy to my mom on her 90th birthday at the end of the month. I know she is going to love it even if no one else does.