The Hricko Family Historian

Talking to older people can be an exercise in patience. An older relative's mind is an untapped reservoir of knowledge. Its just a matter of asking the right questions which might trigger the memory otherwise locked away for decades. Sometimes it means asking the same question but in a different way in the hope that it will garner that small piece of info that might uncover the unknowns of the family tree. At the risk of sounding redundant and patronizing toward the interviewee, I've been using this technique in my quest for family information. So far, so good.

As previously stated in another posting, I have a cousin who is 91. He's as sharp as a tack. But as he's admitted on a number of occasions, his memory is not what it used to be. I give him a call every two weeks or so when I hit a dead-end. This is where I employ my "ask the question in a different way" technique. Last week, my "sneaky" technique yielded a potential jackpot of knowledge. Steve told me that his niece Andrea Hjelm is the family historian! So I gave her a call and later on this week, we are scheduled to talk at length about the family. My questions are locked and loaded. More next week after the interview.