Category: Profiles

Time to Put Boring Ancestor Profiles in the PastTime to Put Boring Ancestor Profiles in the Past



A couple of weeks ago, I told you how Ancestor Profiles are the perfect place to start. They are the ideal format for beginning your family history writing journey. You can watch the episode, What is an Ancestor Profile? here.

If you are already writing profiles, I ask you this. Are your profiles an information dump?

If you haven’t started writing them yet, would you prefer to write a profile that engages your readers instead of boring them?

Too many profiles are just a big yawn to our family members. It’s time to change that. It just doesn’t have to be that way. In today’s video, we discuss some key components that need to be included in your ancestor’s profile to elevate them from stilted and stale to entertaining.

An Ancestor Profile vs. A Family History NarrativeAn Ancestor Profile vs. A Family History Narrative



I recently received an email from a reader about the structure of stories vs. profiles. She was wondereing how a profile was different from writing a family history narrative.

Whenever someone asks me a question like this, it generally means there are more of you out there with the same issue.

So let’s tackle this question and break down how an ancestor profile and a family history narrative are like apples and oranges. They are similar yet different.

An Ancestor Profile

An Ancestor Profile is a snapshot of a single ancestor. It can be an overview of an ancestor’s life, but more importantly, it should focus on something specific or unique about your ancestor.  It can highlight an ancestor’s achievements or accomplishments or an event or critical aspect of your ancestor’s life. For example, it could focus on an accomplishment like an award, or educational achievement or sporting success. It could focus on a career achievement or military history. You may wish to focus on some aspect of the person’s character, or particular interest. Maybe they were they an artist of some kind, or a did volunteer work. The possibilities are endless. It’s not an autobiography or even a biography but more of a biographical sketch. It’s not meant to convey every researched detail you have of an ancestor’s life but rather to shine a spotlight on a specific theme, or idea about that ancestor. It compliments a few pictures and a pedigree chart very nicely. Ancestor Profiles are quick and easy to read, and that means they are more likely to engage your family.

Key Points of a Profile

  • Run anywhere from 500 to 2000 words with a snapshot profile tapping out at 500-600 words
  • Use description, details, action, structure, and theme to create an enjoyable and stimulating sketch of an ancestor
  • Told from the third person point of view
  • Ideal for when there are gaps in your research, and you can’t tell a complete story about an ancestor but do have fascinating facts or events you wish to convey.
  • A good starting point for the beginner writer
  • Fit wonderfully into legacy books, alongside pictures and documents or as a sidebar to the main story.
  • Ideal for newsletters and blog or Facebook posts.
  • Can be weaved into a larger story

A Family History Narrative 

A narrative’s primary purpose is to tell a story.  Don’t let the word ‘narrative’ confuse you. It means nothing more than story. Therefore a family history narrative is in the most basic terms a family history story.

A narrative tells a story using characters (ancestors). Often the story is told from the point of view of one ancestor.  Just like profiles, narratives also rely on creative writing techniques to make them fascinating and entertaining.  In stories, we lean on description, details, action, dialogue, and theme to create an enjoyable read.

The one fundamental difference between a profile and a narrative is the use of plot.  What does plot mean? The plot is the storyline. The writer puts together a series of events to create a story. The sequence or structure of those events is the plot. Typically, an author develops a plot in such a way to pique the reader’s interest. That said, the storyline is not usually resolved until or near the end of the narrative. Plot is fundamental to writing a story. This is why if you want to learn to write a family history story our plotting class is so important.

A family history narrative can fall into the narrative writing style of a novel, short story, novella, poetry or biography.

Key Points:

  • Tells a story or event about an ancestor.
  • Told from 3rd person POV
  • Includes, description, detail, and dialogue.
  • Has a definite and logical plot with a beginning, middle, and
  • Has situations like actions, motivational events, and conflicts or obstacles with their eventual solutions.
  • Narrative writing answers the question “What happened then?”

When it comes to writing about your ancestors, you don’t need to choose between profiles or narratives. You want to employ both styles. They are equally important in sharing your research and have their place. Some ancestor’s lives may be more suitable for one over the other. And of course, if you’re writing a family history legacy book, there is nothing wrong with using a combination of both profiles and narratives.

Ancestor Profiles: When there’s no time to write a bookAncestor Profiles: When there’s no time to write a book



How long does it take you to write 500 words? 1 hour? 2 hours? What if I told you that you could write your first ancestor story in the time it takes you to write 500 words. It’s true.

Too often we get caught up in the impression that writing our family history is going to be this big massive, overwhelming task. So we shy away from it and promise ourselves some day. But it doesn’t have to be that way because in 500 words you can write a story in the format of an Ancestor Profile.

Ancestor Profiles are the perfect place to begin. They are one ancestor, one story and they can take all the scary out of beginning to write your family history.

What is an Ancestor Profile?

An Ancestor Profile is a snapshot of a single ancestor. It can be an overview of an ancestor’s life, but more importantly, it should focus on something specific or unique about your ancestor.  It can highlight an ancestor’s achievements or accomplishments or an event or critical aspect of your ancestor’s life. It’s not an autobiography or even a biography but more of a biography sketch. It’s not meant to convey every researched detail you have of an ancestor’s life but rather to shine a spotlight on a specific theme, or idea about that ancestor. It compliments a few pictures and a pedigree chart very nicely. Ancestor Profiles are quick and easy to read and that means our family will probably read them.

Ancestor profiles are not book-length they usually run about 500 to 2000 words with a snapshot profile tapping out at 500-600 words. In the time it takes you to write 500 words you can have completed your first Ancestor Profile. Then a little revision, polish and editing and your first ancestor profile is complete in no time at all.

To write an ancestor profile, you must have a good understanding of the ancestor either through your research, memory, observation, or a combination. Ancestor Profiles can be created out of an interview of the person or someone who knew the person, or your personal experiences and memory.  You can create a profile by visiting the places where the person worked, lived and socialized.

For those earlier ancestors you might need to rely solely on your research but again focusing in on something that makes this ancestor stand out to you. Too many family history writers use ancestor profiles to create a mundane rundown of an ancestor’s life rather than a look at an aspect of the ancestor that gets to the heart of their character.

Just like family history narratives, profiles also rely on you to use some creative writing techniques to make your profile interesting and entertaining.  In stories, we lean on description, details, action, structure and theme to create an enjoyable read. We also need to include all of these elements as part of an ancestor profile to make them entertaining and engaging.

Where to Use an Ancestor Profile

  • If you have gaps in your ancestor’s research and you can’t tell a birth to death tale, you may want to consider the Ancestor Profile. They allow you to write about a specific person and a specific time frame, event or accomplishment rather a birth to death chronology.
  • Ancestor Profiles are a great starting point for the beginner family history writer. I would encourage as you work through your research to create a profile for all of your direct ancestors, and those that are unique and have achievements in their life you would like to share. It’s a great way to start small, develop your writing skills and work your way up to a larger story.
  • Ancestor Profiles fit in wonderfully in legacy books, alongside pictures and documents or as sidebars to the main story.
  • Ancestor Profiles also make great blog posts, newsletter articles or even Facebook posts. You can even use them as the script to a short video or slideshow.
  • Ancestor Profiles can also be weaved into a larger story.