posted by Sandy on Family History Hints and Helps

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Here is an example of the first letter we used to gather information from our living, extended family.  It was sent to uncles, aunts, siblings and cousins.

Date

Dear Family Members:

We are working to create a family history record for ourselves and our posterity.  We would like our record to begin in the present day and be current with all living family members as well as those who are deceased.  As we put it together, those in all of the connected families will benefit.  We know that it is important to take advantage of  information in the possession of living family members and so, we welcome anything you can share with us including photographs, biographies, autobiographies, vital records and existing family group and pedigree records.  We also welcome telephone calls and discussions which might pass along oral history about members of our families.

Attached is a blank Family Group Record form.  Would you be willing to complete it for your immediate family and return it to us along with a photograph of your family group or individual photographs of each member?  Simple photocopies will work just fine for both photographs and documents.

When we have compiled our record, we will be happy to share it with you.

Thank you for your interest in this effort and for your help.

With love,

Signature

Attachment  (Family Group Record Form)

We waited three months to receive replies or information and then sent a second letter as follows:

Date

Dear Family Members:

We are making one more effort to complete our Family History File to include vital statistics and representative photographs of each living person connected to our direct lines.  Please review the enclosed report and fill in the blanks if you are interested.  The highlighted lines indicate that vital information is absent from the file.

We welcome simple color copies of photograph of each person in your family group which we can scan into each individual record.  You may put many faces on a page and copy them if you would like.  We will scan them into the computer from your copies or you can send photographs as well.

We have enjoyed creating this history for posterity which we hope will be of benefit to many family lines and wish to make one more effort to complete this project.

Thank you for your help in the past and for your contribution to the future record.

With love,

Signature

Name, address, phone number and email address

Tags: letters to family members