How do I start a family history interview?

Begin with names, places and dates the person is sure of, then move to the stories around them. Confidence early makes the harder memories easier to reach.

Should I record the interview?

Yes, with permission. A voice recording keeps the way they speak, which a transcript loses. Go Family Story accepts written answers, photos, video and voice recordings in the same archive.

How do I collect answers from relatives who live far away?

Send private question links by email. They answer in their own time from anywhere, without creating an account, and the answers land in one place.

Family history interview questions

Genealogy gives you dates. An interview gives you the life behind them. This list works for any relative — a parent, an aunt, an older cousin — and covers childhood, family origins, work, love and the details that never make it onto a family tree.

Family history questions to ask a relative

Work through these at whatever pace suits them. Ten minutes a week beats one long recorded session.

1.What is the earliest thing you can remember clearly?
2.What was the town or city you grew up in like?
3.What has made you cry with happiness?
4.Who was the most important person of your childhood?
5.What were you like at school?
6.What did you want to be?
7.What object of yours should stay in the family, and why?
8.What did your first job teach you?
9.What did you do in your twenties that shaped everything after?
10.What was your biggest risk?
11.What did you do on your birthday as a child?
12.What did you lose along the way?
13.Who did you love first?
14.What did that teach you?
15.What did you cook when you were learning to cook?
16.What has been your happiest stretch of years?
17.What has been your hardest?
18.What got you through it?
19.What is the kindest thing you have done for a stranger?
20.What have you built that you are proud of?
21.What work have you done that nobody sees?
22.What have you been wrong about?
23.What have you thrown away and regretted?
24.What have you changed your mind on?
25.What does a good day look like for you?
26.What do you do when you cannot sleep?
27.What has ageing taught you about your body?
28.What makes you laugh?
29.What makes you angry?
30.What do you find beautiful?
31.What do you think matters at the end?
32.What are you superstitious or particular about?
33.What do you always carry?
34.What food takes you straight back?
35.What did you save up for, coin by coin?
36.What place do you return to in your head?
37.What music has followed you through life?
38.What do you believe about why we are here?
39.Who was your first real friend, and what happened to them?
40.What have you learned about forgiveness?
41.What have you learned about money?
42.What have you learned about friendship?
43.What have you forgiven that you thought you never would?
44.What have you learned about grief?
45.What are you still curious about?

Turn these questions into a gift they'll keep

We send the questions for you. They answer free from their inbox, and every answer, photo and recording is gathered into one private archive — kept on a highly secure database, and downloadable by you at any time.

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Questions for the rest of the family

Ask several relatives the same questions about one person. Where their answers differ is usually where the real story is.

46.When did you first meet them?
47.What was your first impression?
48.What do their home feel like?
49.What do you call them, and why?
50.What do they look like to you?
51.What is their voice like?
52.What is their favourite place?
53.What do they always wear or carry?
54.What do they do first thing in the day?
55.What are they like in the morning?
56.What are they known for outside the family?
57.What are they like late at night?
58.What do they do when they are stressed?
59.What do they do when they are happy?
60.What habit of theirs do you catch yourself repeating?
61.What do they say when they are proud of someone?
62.What have they teach you?
63.What have you taught them?
64.How do they carry it?
65.What do they do for other people?

Collect the answers in one place

Go Family Story sends three of these questions a week by private link. The person answers with a free account, and every answer, photo, video and voice recording is kept in one private archive that only your family can see.

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Common questions

How do I start a family history interview?: Begin with names, places and dates the person is sure of, then move to the stories around them. Confidence early makes the harder memories easier to reach.
Should I record the interview?: Yes, with permission. A voice recording keeps the way they speak, which a transcript loses. Go Family Story accepts written answers, photos, video and voice recordings in the same archive.
How do I collect answers from relatives who live far away?: Send private question links by email. They answer in their own time from anywhere, without creating an account, and the answers land in one place.