50 Questions to Ask Your Relatives About Your Family History

A good way to preserve information from your relatives is to interview them while they are still remembering things. You can easily record audio or video using your cell phone. These questions are just to get you started. By asking about experiences, thoughts, and feelings, you can help your relative start talking. Consider playing favorite music from their youth to jog their memory.

The more details you can get, the better.

Tell us about your family.
Has anyone changed their faith? did any of them get a degree?
Did you go to school? Which school?
Did you have an illness?
Did you serve in the military?
Did you receive any awards?
Did you have any nicknames as a child?
Did you have any hobbies?
Do you have an old family bible?
Do you remember the names of your neighbors?
Do you remember Prohibition?
Do you remember your great-grandparents?
Have you ever been hospitalized? When? Where? Why?
How many children do you have?
Have you ever been married more than once? With whom?
What is the full name and date of birth of your grandparents?
What are the full names and dates of birth of your parents?
What are your parents' occupations?
What did your grandparents like to do?
What kind of work did your grandparents do?
What organizations did your grandparents belong to?
What other places did they live?
What rank did they hold?
What religion did they follow?
What kind of school did your parents go to?
What kind of school did your grandparents go to?
What political beliefs do you hold?
How did you meet your wife or husband?
What is your greatest achievement?
What was your/your spouse's occupation?
What are the names and birth dates of your children?
What was your favorite vacation?
When did your parents or grandparents die? Why?
Where were your parents born?
Where did they get married?
Where did they like to travel?
Where did you grow up?
Where did your parents grow up?
Where were they baptized?
Have they been drafted?
Did they serve in a war? Which war?
Were they wounded in the line of duty?
Where was the first house they bought?
Was your name named after someone?
Who are your brothers and sisters?
Who are their children?
Who did they marry?
Who is the oldest person you remember as a child?
What words of wisdom do you have?

When you set aside time to ask your relatives questions about their own and your family's history, make sure they are comfortable. Make sure that everyone has enough to drink and eat, and allow for breaks. This is especially true if you are interviewing the elderly. Also, allow the person to speak when the memory comes back to him/her so as not to interrupt the next question. That is the best way to gather hard-to-get information.