100 Family History Interview Questions to Ask Now + a Free Printable

Interview Questions and Prompts for Family History Interviews
  • Childhood. What’s your first memory? …
  • School. What was your school like? …
  • Marriage. How did you meet your spouse? …
  • Occupation. Describe your first job. …
  • Parents and Family. How did your parents meet? …
  • Major and Historical Events. …
  • Holidays and Celebrations. …
  • Personal.

15 Best Tips for Interviewing Family – Beginning Genealogy

Family history questions about jobs and employment

  • What did you want to be when you grew up?
  • What did your parents do for a living?
  • Which occupations did your grandparents have?
  • Did any members of your family have their own business?
  • Which occupations did your parents encourage you to choose?
  • What was your very first job?
  • What would you consider to be your main occupation?
  • Why did you choose the career that you did?
  • What would you consider to be your biggest professional accomplishment?
  • If you had multiple careers, what were they?
  • What job did you have that you think might surprise me?
  • What would your dream job be?
  • Family history questions about social life

    An active social life is very important for many people. Learning about your relative’s friends and other social relationships can provide important insight into their life.

  • What was the name of your earliest childhood friend?
  • How did you meet your first best friend?
  • Who was your best friend in high-school?
  • How important were your friends as a young adult?
  • Who is your oldest (longest time) friend?
  • Is there a friend that you lost touch with?
  • How often do you see currently see your friends?
  • Who would you say your closest friend is today?
  • What kinds of activities do you currently do with your friends?
  • How important have your friends been to you throughout your life?
  • family history interview questions

    Interviewing family members gives you a chance to spend time together and ask questions. It is not always easy, but it can be extremely rewarding. You can connect with relatives in the present moment while preserving valuable stories and memories for future generations. Older family members can relive past experiences and accomplishments, and younger family members can learn new things about themselves, their heritage, and even their place in history.

    Family history questions about family life

    One of the most important aspects of an individual’s life is their role as a family member. Whether it be as a child, parent, sibling, or cousin, documenting a person’s role in their family is important.

  • Would you describe the family that you grew up with as close? Why or why not?
  • How important is family history or genealogy to your immediate and extended family?
  • Describe a holiday or celebratory meal that you remember from your childhood.
  • What is the name of your spouse?
  • What are the full names of all of your children?
  • What were the favorite traditions practiced by your family?
  • What were your favorite activities to do as a family?
  • Where did you usually take your family on vacations?
  • What type of family gatherings were held by yourself or your immediate/extended family as adults?
  • How do you preserve family memories?
  • family history interview questions

    You can choose to use all 100 questions for a very in-depth and wide-ranging interview – or you can pick and choose from the list and compile your own sequence of questions. In most cases, all 100 questions will be far too many and will overwhelm your interviewee. Instead, highlight the questions you really want to know and then ask more if the opportunity arises.

    Below, we’ve put together a list of 100 family history interview questions to bring along to your next gathering. We’ve also included printables of these interview questions for the sake of convenience. One is in the form of a fillable questionnaire and the other version is a simple list of the questions.

    With the holiday season coming up fast, many of us are already beginning to prepare for the family-filled parties and celebrations ahead. For the genealogy researcher, though, a holiday get-together can mean a whole lot more than planning a menu or gathering gifts – often, it’s an important opportunity to connect with our more distant relatives ask some family history interview questions!

    Of course, it’s ideal if you can arrange to interview your relative at the gathering in advance so as not to catch them off guard. However, most would agree, there’s nothing wrong with spontaneously asking your great aunt or grandparent if they feel up to answering a few questions over pie and coffee.

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