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Archiver > GEN-EDITOR > 1998-03 > 0891051119


From: AEParshall <>
Subject: Re: First Family Newsletter
Date: Fri, 27 Mar 1998 21:11:59 EST


My first newsletter didn't attempt to reach everybody in the country with the
target surname. It was specifically for descendants of my great-grandparents,
which, since nine children lived to have families of their own, was already a
large enough pool as it was.

I contacted the relatives I knew (in writing, since I wanted a written answer)
telling them what I planned, and asking them for the addresses of their
children and brothers and sisters. When they wrote back (some of them
anyway), they usually wrote a few sentences about this newsletter being a
terrific idea, blah, blah, blah, and it sure would be good to hear from Cousin
Jim-Bob again.

Those letters, together with my own material, was enough for the first
newsletter. My lead article was an explanation of what I hoped to do; there
was an article outlining basic genealogical information about my great-
grandparents and their children; and I printed part one of a longer family
history article I had written. With the notes I had received, a birthday list
for the next couple of months, and a list of the addresses I had with an
appeal for more, the first issue was filled.

For subsequent issues, I had to rely largely on my own material -- other
articles I had written, transcriptions of tapes left by a couple of the
second-generation cousins, minutes of our early family reunions, diary
excerpts, raw genealogical material (census records, land abstracts, and so
on) from my own files. Gradually, when the family could see that I was
serious and that the paper would continue to come month after month, cousins
began sending in their own material -- life sketches written by the aunts and
uncles, letters about visiting cemeteries on Memorial Day, other family
documents I didn't even know existed. I was able to keep this up for a couple
of dozen issues before the paper folded. Even though I probably shared more
than I received, the new material I did receive was priceless.

My recommendations:

DO know what you're trying to accomplish by putting out a newsletter. Do you
want to gather new material? Show off the stuff you've already found? Bring
distant family members closer together emotionally? Raise money to publish a
family history or to set new grave markers? Unless you know what you're
trying to accomplish, you'll run around not knowing what to do next, and you
won't feel very satisfied.

DON'T expect to get away without writing most of the first issues yourself
(unless you have a rare Cousin Daisy who just loves to write but doesn't know
how to print a paper). Collect enough of your own material for several issues
before you even start the first one. Solicit articles, but don't be surprised
if they don't come in without a lot of coaxing on your part (personal
contacts, that is, not nagging through the pages of your paper).

DO realize that unless you have been passionately urged to do this by your
immediate relations (yeah, right!), this is *your* baby. You have to provide
financial support for the paper and feed it with your own writing, and nobody
else is going to think it is quite as wonderful as you do. If you want it to
survive, you have to be prepared to do it all. You may think it's your
cousins' duty to support you, but this paper is probably your idea, not
theirs, and they aren't bound to support your hobby no matter how much you
think they are benefitting by it.

All this and have a life too, you say? Ha! If you're going to edit and
publish any kind of paper, the paper IS your life!

Welcome to the ranks.

Ardis Parshall

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