Family history should include the area's history

In his foreword to Abel Rubio’s book Stolen Heritage, A Mexican-American’s Rediscovery of His Family’s Lost Land Grant, Thomas H. Kreneck who now serves as Associate Library Director for Special Collections and Archives at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi writes:

“In my work as a public historian…I have encountered at least 200 laymen who claimed they were ‘writing books’ about the history of their families. None of the people, I should add, ever completed their projects; the difficulty of such a task always outstripped their ability and enthusiasm.”

That is unfortunate.

If anyone out there is having trouble completing their family history take hope from Rubio’s formidable achievement. Rubio recognizes in his introduction that:

“This narrative is not a standard history of Texas because it was never intended as such. But how can we write about an old-time Texas frontier family without involving the entire region and its society?”

He is right on point with this observation. Many in looking into their family’s story focus on trees, lines, graphs, notable ancestors, etc. Rarely do they focus on the history their family lived in and helped to make. Ancestral trees are nothing without a story, without the history behind it. As Rubio correctly pointed out you cannot write about your family without “involving the entire region and its society”.

Still, we remain hopeful that some family histories have indeed been written and are awaiting publication. If you have a manuscript about your family’s history, we invite you to contact us at his email address:

publisher@mcmbooks.com

Together we might be able to get your family’s story into print so that others may enjoy it.

[trx_form style=”form_1″ return_page=”0″ top=”inherit” bottom=”inherit” left=”inherit” right=”inherit”] [trx_form_item type=”text” label_position=”top” top=”inherit” bottom=”inherit” left=”inherit” right=”inherit”] [/trx_form]