Reference Centre, Genealogy 101

Organize your Records
       - Herald's Chart (Descendants format)

Figure 1 - Family History Interview Questionnaire

NOTE:  Instructions for interviewer appear in italics.  If you have not already done so, as the interview progresses it will be useful to draft a family tree depicting the individuals discussed.  That tree will help to clarify relationships between the individuals from the outset.  Use a large sheet of paper for this purpose.

1.     Please tell me your full name.  Did any person in the family refer to you or call you by some other name, such as a pet name?

2.     You were born when?  Where?  If place is unfamiliar to you, ask guest to name the nearest major city and whether the place of birth is north, south, east, or west of that city.  Also ask your guest to tell you about his or her place of birth e.g. major industry, sports facilities, whether rural or urban, et cetera.

3.     Where did you go to school?  What year did you start?  How complete was your education?  In what subjects did you excel?  What did you not like about school?  Ask for names and locales of schools.

4.     Did you ever do any volunteer work?  For what organizations?  What time period?

5.     Did you work?  For whom did you work?  What type of work did you do?  When did you start working, change employment, or stop working?

6.     What hobbies have you followed?  When and where?

7.     What other special interests do you have?

8.     Have you ever won any awards for anything you have done at school, work, or for a hobby or volunteer projects?  What were those awards?  When did you win them?

9.     Who were your friends over the years?  Where and when did you meet or associate with them?  Do you still keep in touch?  If not, why not?  Did you ever have an adventure with a friend?  If so, tell me about it.

10.     Have you ever travelled?  Where did you go?  When did you go there?  How did you travel?  What souvenirs did you bring back?  Was there a special purpose for visiting that place?  Example: to visit relatives, to see where a relative was born, lived or was buried.

11.     Tell me about any diseases, accidents or operations you have had?  Have any of your family ever had the same diseases?  Try to obtain specific information.  You are trying to identify patterns of hereditable illnesses e.g. myopia, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, epilepsy, et cetera.

12.     Who is/was your spouse?  When and where did you meet?  When did you get married?  Have you been married more than once?  Who were your other spouses?  When and where did you meet them?  When and where did you marry?  Ask for names, denominations and town of churches at which marriages took place.

13.     Did you have children?  How many and what are their names?  When were they born and married?  Did any children die while they were young?  If so, when?  Where were your children born and baptized?  Ask for name, denomination and town of churches.

14.     If children are married, what are the names of their spouses?  When and where did those children marry?  Do they have any children?  If so, what are their names and when were they born?

15.     Where do your children and their families live now?  Where do they work?  Where did they go to school?  Obtain as much specific information as possible if these children are not well known to you.

16.     Do you have any brothers or sisters?  What are their names?  Repeat questions 3 through 15 for each brother and sister named.

17.     What was your father's name?  Repeat questions 2 through 11.

18.     What was your mother's name?  Her maiden surname?  First, repeat question 12 in relation to the marriage of your guest's parents.  Then, repeat questions 2 through 1.

19.     Did your father have any brothers or sisters?  Repeat questions 2 through 15 for each sibling.

20.     Did your mother have any brothers or sisters?  Repeat questions 2 through 15 for each sibling named.

21.     Who was your father's father?

22.     Who was your mother's mother?  What was her maiden surname?

23.     Who was your mother's father?

24.     Who was your mother's mother?  What was her maiden surname?  Asking questions 21 through 24 in this manner will save the confusion that arises when simply requesting the names of grandparents.  Repeat questions 2 through 16 for each grandparent named.

25.     Do you know who your great-grandparents were?  Most elderly relations do not know this information or may only know one or two of their great-grandparents.  Ask your guest if they can supply any details - names, dates and places of birth, marriage and death, names of spouses, et cetera.  Be very specific as to which person this great-grandparent was related.

26.     Did any male members of the family serve in any military force?  Did they ever have to go to war?  Which war?  Do you know in what regiment they served?  Did they receive any honours for their service?  Are they buried in a military cemetery?  Where?  Do you have any memorabilia from their service such as a plaque, photographs, medals, citations, funeral card, obituary?

27.     Are there any other interesting events or circumstances about anyone in your family that you could tell me about?  As this portion of the interview progreses ask your guest to be as specific as possible with names, dates and places.  Even if your guest starts to repeat an earlier story let them tell it again.  Frequently, the whole truth of a story does not come to light until the third, fourth, or fifth repetition.

A more full and concise Family Interview Questionnaire with expanded instructions for conducting the interview can be found in our book The Family Interview.

Return to Article

Print this Page