9 Types of Ancestor Writings for Ancestry Research

Use these 9 types of ancestor writings for ancestry and genealogy research.

During my time as a genealogist, I have had the fortune to come across several artifacts from my ancestors, including the letters and cards of my mother, journals and poetry of my father, and various bits and pieces shared by others. These combined artifacts tell a life story that isn’t so different from my own. Before we progress too far, I would like to outline some of the differences you will find in written communications.

Table of Contents

Ancestor Writings As Letters

A letter is a direct, written message usually sent some distance from one person to another, or even to a group of persons or an organization. Some of the earliest recorded letters were written about 3500 BC by the Sumerians (using picture writing), who wrote on clay tablets using long reads.

An old term for the letter is “epistle,” from the Greek word epistle, meaning “message.” Letters make up several of the books of the Bible.

Letters engage a dialogue between parties and often become objects to represent the absent person’s touch and nearness. Nathaniel Hawthorne became a famous author, but he spoke like countless other correspondents when he wrote to his sweetheart Sophia Pea- body in 1840, stating, “The only ray of light” in his dreary day “was when [I] opened thy letter. . . . I have folded it to my heart, and ever and anon it sends a thrill through me. . . . It seems as if thy head were leaning against my breast.”

Some letters are scattered and must be gathered to form a collection of writings. Nowadays, letters are only widely used by companies who send out these mailings to large numbers of people (who may not have access to the Internet for email). The term “letter” is sometimes used for email messages with a formal, letter-like format.

Ancestor Writings As Journals and Diaries

In 1656, John Beadle, an Essex minister, wrote an advice manual on keeping a diary and explained the variety of types written in the seventeenth century. He said:

We have our state journals relating to national affairs. Tradespeople keep their shop books. Merchants their account books. Lawyers have their books of pre[c]edents. Physitians have their experiments. Some wary husbands have kept a diary of daily disbursements. Travelers a Journal of all that they have seen and hath befallen them in their way. A Christian that would be more exact hath more need and may reap much more good by such a journal as this. We are all but stewards, factors here, and must give a strict account to the high Lord of all our wayes and of all his ways towards us in that great day.

The terms “journal” and “diary” are used interchangeably today. No matter what you call them, these accounts are the autobiographies of ordinary people like our ancestors, and these may be the only existing records of their personal lives. Along with genealogical data, diaries give us an extraordinary glimpse into someone’s daily life, thoughts, and attitudes. A diarist may also record feelings on national events, such as a war or its impact on family and the community. The following attempts to define meanings as used over the last several centuries.

Ancestor Writings As Diaries (the private journal)

Some use the words “diary” and “journal” interchangeably, while others apply strict differences to journals and diaries: dated, undated, inner focused, outer focused, forced, etc. Diary is referred to as a private journal. The current preference (based on book and article titles) is to use the word “journal.” The phrase ” journaling” is often used to describe such hobby writing, similar to “scrapbooking.”

Diaries are relatively recent, from the 1700s in the culture of Western Europe and early America. The popularity of diaries stems from the Christian desire to chart one’s spiritual progression toward God. Expanded in the 1800s to record personal feelings, self-discovery, and self-reflection.

Diaries are found in all aspects of human life, governmental, business ledgers, and military records. Diaries run the spectrum from business notations to listings of weather and daily personal events to inner exploration of the psyche, or a place to express one’s deepest self. Diaries or journals are often written to oneself or an imaginary person and may resemble a letter to oneself.

There is a strong psychological effect of having an audience for self-expression, a personal space, or a “listener,” even if the “audience” is the book one writes in, only read by oneself. Some diarists think of their diaries as special friends, even going so far as to name them. For example, Anne Frank called her diary “Kitty.”

A single individual between its covers usually weaves together a diary. A well-known example is “The Diary of Anne Frank,” whose diary chronicled the desperation of being Jewish in Amsterdam during World War II and having to go into hiding from the Nazis. First, the diary is a day-by-day account of the life of a Jewish family and their friends. Secondly, it is a biting commentary of the depths of suffering men can impose on other men. A stunning website about this child and her story is at http://www.annefrank.com.

Ancestor Writings As Journals (public record)

A journal (French from late Latin diurnal, “daily”) has several related meanings:

A daily record of events or business; a private journal is usually a diary.
A newspaper or other periodical, in the literal sense of one published each day; however, some publications issued at stated intervals—such as a magazine or the record of the transactions of society such as a scientific journal or academic journals in general—are called a journal. “Journal,” then, is sometimes used as a synonym for “magazine.”
The word “journalist” (for one whose business is writing for the public press) has been used since the end of the seventeenth century.
Section 5 of Article I of the United States Constitution requires the Congress of the United States to keep a journal of its proceedings. This journal, the Congressional Record, is published by the Government Printing Office. Journals of this sort are also often referred to as minutes.

A book in which an account of transactions is kept before a transfer to the ledger in bookkeeping. For example:

A central book in which all financial transactions were recorded. These include the purchase of supplies, the sale of crops, the purchase and sale of livestock, and the purchase, sale, birth, marriage and death of enslaved people, apprentices and other servants;
The record of all agricultural activities from year to year, including the purchase of seed, fertilizer, cordage and wire, plows and other equipment, cost of labor, places of sale, transportation costs, and the prices obtained for the crops; or
A chronicle of life on the farm, including some or all of the above. Journals can provide essential clues to African-American genealogists researching their slave ancestors. Plantation records may be the only place to ascertain names and dates necessary to prove ancestral ties.
An equivalent to a ship’s log—as a record of the daily run— such as observations, weather changes, or other events of daily importance.

Ancestor Writings As Postcards

A postcard is typically a rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard intended for writing and mailing without an envelope and at a lower rate than a letter.

The United States Postal Service began issuing pre-stamped postal cards in 1873. Postcards came about because the public was looking for an easier way to send quick notes. Postcards were very popular in the early 1900s. For example, in 1908, more than 677 million postcards were mailed.

The messages contained in postcards are necessarily brief and generally lighthearted, as the sender is generally on holiday and switched off from the day-to-day routines of home and work.

Ancestor Writings As Greeting Cards

A greeting card is an illustrated, folded card, usually featuring a greeting message or another sentiment.

The oldest known greeting card is a Valentine made in the 1400s and is in the British Museum. New Year’s cards can be dated back to this period, but the New Year greeting didn’t gain popularity until the late 1700s. Cards gained their highest popularity in the late 1800s and early 1900s, offering cards with some of the most unusual art.

Greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas, or other holidays, but they are also sent on “non-occasions” to say hello or thank you. Ninety percent of all paper greeting cards are sold in the United States.

Greeting cards, usually packaged with an envelope, come in various styles. They are manufactured or handmade by hundreds of companies, big and small.

Card inscriptions can be windows to how an ancestor felt about the recipient. A card is often a token of affection that articulates the form of love and affiliation of a given period. The messages in greeting cards are usually brief, and mostly the sender confines himself to the brevity that the form imposes, and the message is cheerful and upbeat.

Ancestor Writings As Written Notes or Messages

These messages range from a piece of paper tucked into a journal as a personal reminder to a note in the margins of a letter denoting an extra add-on thought.

Written notes can provide insight and extra meaning to what has already been written.

Ancestor Writings As Emails

Electronic mail, now usually called “email,” is a method of composing, sending, storing, and receiving messages over electronic communication systems.

Email started in 1965 as a way for multiple users of a timesharing mainframe computer to communicate.

Ancestor Writings As Blogs (Weblog)

A weblog, usually shortened to “blog,” is a website where regular entries are made (such as in a journal or diary) and presented in reverse chronological order. Blogs often offer commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news, and some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, websites, and media related to its topic.