White County, Arkansas

How to Write a Family History. 

 Remember the stories Grandpa and Grandma told you?  As we grow older, they begin to fade away.  So, as you record the facts about roots and lineage, don't forget to save the family stories, too.  That's the message guest speaker Wendy Ledbetter brought to the White County Historical Society on Monday, March 22, 2004, at Harding Place in Searcy.  Ledbetter lives at Gurdon,  andis a freelance writer and editor for Family History Magazine (formerly Everton's Genealogical Helper).   She talked “about my favorite topic – writing."   "There are dozens of terrific stories associated with every single family tree and I think it's a shortcoming on our part to not make a place in our research for those stories,” she said.  “While many of them are 'family legends,' or simply tales that can never be verified, they still play an important role in who we are and where we came from.  There are lots of reasons to save those stories and lots of ways to get those stories saved."  She discussed "simple, inexpensive" ways to get a book into print.  "And, it's only a small step from writing these stories down (for your own enjoyment) to publication in magazines and periodicals.  I'll show how to find markets."  Ledbetter has been a newsbeat reporter for several Arkansas daily newspapers and in 2000 was honored by the Associated Press with a first-place state award.  As a journalist and historian, she presented a unique perspective on subjects ranging from interactive CD histories to sonar depth finders for locating graves to molecular DNA for proving lines.   Her high-energy presentation encouraged participation by an appreciative audience.

Program at Harding Place March 22, 2004