Tracing family genealogy is something many people are pursuing. The Wilton Historical Society is hosting a presentation to provide more information on how to kick off a family genealogy project, called, “Embarking On Your Family History Journey: Researching and Writing Your Story.”

The talk is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 16 at 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.. It will feature genealogist Tara Finn Forshino and Wilton resident Karen Sackowitz, the founder of Your Stories Ink, a personal history business which helps families and individuals capture their stories in keepsake books.

We spoke with Sackowitz (who also writes for GOOD Morning Wilton) about the process of starting to record a family’s history and stories. This kicks off a new series we’re starting, called “Five Questions With…”

1. Where does someone even start when they’re thinking about memorializing their own or a loved one’s history?

Karen Sackowitz:  That is a great question because a lot of people get turned off the idea of capturing a life story because it’s too overwhelming – “Tell my whole LIFE??” The trick, I believe, is to start with one specific piece of the story and really live in it without rushing to get to the rest. It could be the year you lived in Paris, your time serving in the military, how your mom’s kitchen smelled every Thanksgiving. Something you can really bring back into your mind to capture the details.

2. Why is it important to capture the stories beyond the facts and dates?

KS:  It adds dimension to the story and tells more about a person’s essence. I could tell you, I grew up in Massachusetts, went to college in Ohio, got married in 1998…but it doesn’t tell you much about me as a person. Now, if I describe my first apartment out of college, how the kitchen window literarily looked out over a traffic circle, how crazy my roommates and I went with Halloween decorations, how we’d walk to the neighborhood pub to watch Bruins games because we couldn’t afford cable TV….now we’ve got something. Now it’s a picture rather than a list.

3. In doing what you do, any anecdotes of a client who has uncovered something surprising, special, significant about their loved one that they weren’t expecting? (without naming names…)

KS:  One really demonstrates what we were just talking about — the stories beyond the dates. One client knew her mom was a teenager during World War II, but in encouraging her to really talk about it, learned that during that time, she and her mother (my client’s grandmother) would bring a picnic dinner to her father on the nights he took a shift at the local watch tower. The town would go dark at night, and he would be one of the men who watched the sky for war planes; they would bring him dinner and picnic up there, then walk home with him after his shift. It really brought it home for my client that her mother wasn’t just alive during the war — she experienced it in a very real way.

4. What kind of history have YOU uncovered?

There has been a longstanding rumor in my family that Reddington – my maiden name – was not my grandfather’s actual last name. Sure enough, my father recently showed me his father’s birth certificate, bearing the name Francis Redden. He was born in Ireland, but when he came to America it was a a time in history when “Irish Need Not Apply” …. he changed it to Reddington to sound English so he could get a job!

5. If there’s one bit of advice to give to a young family about keeping history for their own children, to pass down, what would it be?

Journal as much as you can. I know it’s tough, days are super busy, but it’s so worth it down the road when you don’t always remember the small moments. Recently I was reading through my journal and remembered a really fun and silly game I used to play with my son when he was a toddler — I never would have remembered if I didn’t write it down! I told him about it and he got a kick out of thinking of the two of us interacting that way, especially now that he is a pre-teen.

Admission to the Wilton Historical Society program, “Embarking On Your Family History Journey: Researching and Writing Your Story,” is  $10 for members, $15 for non-members. To register, call 203.762.7257 or email education@wiltonhistorical.org. The Wilton Historical Society is located at 224 Danbury Rd..