Chapters in family history book ?

[monke]

I am writing family history book.  I am writing about origin of my surname and dealing with only people who bear that surname and are my cousins.

I made some text about history of the village, surnames that are same or similar but we are not related to them, list of relatives who bear the surname who are alive, chronological table of events in family such as birh, wedding, death, geographical distribution of family.

What do you suggest more ?

I am open for suggestions

[philipsearching]

You could consider a "day in the life" of ancestors.  What would a typical day have been like 100 years ago? - housing, job, tools, diet, transport, entertainment and so on.  What would a typical day have been like 50 years ago?

Hope this helps
Philip

[Billyblue]

If you are going to publish your book, then be careful of naming living persons unless you have their written permission.  Of course, if whatever you say about them has already been in the news for one reason or another, this may not be such a problem.  But sometimes people get very 'tetchy' about having their details published.

And do put some narrative in.  A list of names and dates can be very boring.

Dawn M
PS Anything more than a couple of copies of a book is, in most cases, considered to be 'publishing'.

[monke]

I am going to publish it in 10 copies. So it won't be available in stores or library. It will be for internal family use

[StevieSteve]

I'd suggest  making  it  as informal as you can.

I recently read a Dutch effort which went something like

"In 1798 Napoleon took over Holland. That would probably have upset Jan as he was a soldier in the Dutch Army"

Despite the insights looking banal, it was quite charming.  Illustrations helped of course.

[Billyblue]

I am going to publish it in 10 copies. So it won't be available in stores or library. It will be for internal family use

So, it will still be published.  A book doesn't have to be for sale to be considered as published.

You don't say in your profile, where you are based, but many countries have what is called Legal Deposit (or a similar name) so you should make enquiries in your country, about this.  This is a legislated requirement for publications to be deposited with , for example, a National Library and sometimes a Parliamentary Library.  If you ignore this you could be committing a felony or whatever it is called where you live.

Dawn M

[monke]

So Billy what are your suggestions about chapters in my book ?

[cristeen]

If relevant, a section about local industries and how they changed over time, images of old maps, relevant buildings (if they still exist, or old photos of them) and newspaper clippings all help to paint a picture.
I have done something similar, though each chapter based on a family group. I't amazing how much detail can be gleaned. I have just unearthed a new source of info on my gg grandfather (born 1849) and now know feel almost as if I knew him

[Billyblue]

So Billy what are your suggestions about chapters in my book ?

I think Cristeen's suggestions are good to follow.

Dawn M