For All Time: A Complete Guide to Writing Your Family History

by Charley Kempthorne

Family history writing can take many forms--a short essay or narrative introduction to a collection of family letters, long captions comprising a family photo history, a biography of parents and a narrative of their life together, an autobiography, or even a family newsletter. This sensible and accessible book is for those who want to do a little writing as well as for those who want to do a lot. Kempthorne shows how easy it is to write family history and how much fun it can be. He illustrates in detail how By the end of the book, readers will not only gain a thorough understanding of how to write family history, but will have completed a number of sketches to entertain and enrich their families.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Reference

150 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 1996

Reviews

[Claudia Skelton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was authored by an elderly teacher and family historian in 1996. It is a practical and enjoyable description of how to write and create the history of our families and ourselves."History is a story, a narrative of the past." I am very motivated by his encouragement of initially writing what we know now about ourselves and our families and his simple suggestions throughout the book on ways to continue to have pleasure writing family history. Understandably, given when this book was published, the final pages that discuss what technology could be used to document and to publish the history are not current with what is available today.

[Em · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book to get started writing a family history or autobiography. The information is a little dated when it comes to computer work, but it is the encouragement it offers to just start writing that is most important.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good advice and examples for personal and family writing. Needs updating for technology, as tape recorders is the tech touted. Other advice is very current.

[Samantha Mairson-Dougherty]

Got to page 58 before needing to return to library. Really loved this book up to that point. Lots of helpful prompts and ideas.

[Rebecca_atx · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a bit dated, but was very helpful to me - a complete beginner to writing about family history. It is small and concise, which helps too.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to get you started and keep you writing your Family History. Kempthorne is passionate about writing Family History and you can tell. It is almost like a one-on-one course with him. The language is easygoing and not bookish. I will be using my book for many years to come. It is also a great resource to if you want to start a Personal/Family History writing group.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview book

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I went to one of his workshops and bought this. It has some good content. I'll probably use it as a reference.