What should I ask my grandfather?

Ask about his first job and what it paid, how he met his wife, what he made or fixed, and what advice from his own father he kept.

He does not like long conversations. Does this still work?

Yes. Short written questions suit men who dislike being interviewed — three a week is enough.

How do we keep the answers together?

Go Family Story keeps every answer, photo and voice recording for one person in a single private archive the family can read.

Questions to ask your grandfather

Grandfathers are often asked the same handful of questions and never the rest. These go further: the first job, the hard years, what he built, what he worried about and what he has never said out loud.

Questions to ask your grandfather about his own life

Ask these directly, or send a few at a time so he can answer when the house is quiet.

1.What were you like as a young man, before any of us existed?
2.What did the men in your family expect of you?
3.What do you do to celebrate?
4.What work did you start with, and how did you learn it?
5.How did you meet the person you married?
6.What did you do that you were genuinely good at?
7.What is the best meal you have ever eaten?
8.What did you build, fix or keep running over the years?
9.What did you carry in your pockets every day?
10.What did you and your friends do for fun in those years?
11.What have you made peace with?
12.What did military service, work or hard years teach you?
13.What did you worry about at night in those years?
14.What did you never tell your own children?
15.What should be written on the last page of your story?
16.What was your happiest ordinary day?
17.What did you learn about money the hard way?
18.What did you drive, and what did that car mean to you?
19.What did you want to be at seven, and at seventeen?
20.What did you believe in that people around you did not?
21.What has changed most for men since you were young?
22.What advice did your father give you that you kept?
23.Which city or town did you feel at home in straight away?
24.What did you feel the first time you held a grandchild?
25.What do you hope we ask you before it is too late?
26.What would you like your great-grandchildren to know about you?
27.What is the biggest risk you took with your own life?
28.What was the world like when you were a child?
29.What did your parents do, and what were they like?
30.What was your childhood home like — the rooms, the smells, the sounds?
31.What is the view you would like to wake up to?
32.What did a school day look like for you?
33.What did your family live through that shaped them?
34.What did people your age do for fun?
35.Where do you stand on faith, and has that moved over the years?
36.How did you meet your husband or wife?
37.What was your wedding day like?
38.What was your first home together?
39.What are you proud of that nobody ever praised you for?
40.What work did you do over the years?
41.How much did things cost, and how did you manage?
42.What was the hardest time you lived through?
43.What is your earliest memory?
44.What news event do you remember most clearly, and where were you?
45.What was it like to become a parent in your time?

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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 to answer about your grandfather

Ask his children, his grandchildren and his old friends. The man each of them knew is slightly different.

46.What is it like being in his workshop, garden or car?
47.What does he always have in his pockets?
48.What would you want them to hear you say?
49.What does he make, mend or grow?
50.What did he wear every single day?
51.What did his hands look like, and what were they always doing?
52.What do they always have with them?
53.What does he call you?
54.What did he let you do that your parents would not?
55.What did he say when you were upset?
56.What have they tried to teach you?
57.What does he teach you without calling it teaching?
58.What did he keep that meant something to him?
59.What does he say about his own young years?
60.What bring you back?
61.What does he think of the way we live now?
62.What does he do for other people quietly?
63.What makes him laugh out loud?
64.What is their idea of a perfect day?
65.What was he stubborn about?

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

What should I ask my grandfather?: Ask about his first job and what it paid, how he met his wife, what he made or fixed, and what advice from his own father he kept.
He does not like long conversations. Does this still work?: Yes. Short written questions suit men who dislike being interviewed — three a week is enough.
How do we keep the answers together?: Go Family Story keeps every answer, photo and voice recording for one person in a single private archive the family can read.