Turn Research into Readable Stories

Transcript:

Host (Heather Haunert):
Hi everyone, and welcome to The Family Treehouse, a podcast series brought to you by Storied, where I chat with people who have a passion for genealogy, storytelling, or both.

I’m your host, Heather Haunert, and I have a treat for you today. Our guest is Emily Pulham, and Emily is a professional genealogist and book designer. Her website is Organized with Emily and her Instagram is phenomenal — that’s actually how I found Emily, through her amazing Instagram.

If you haven’t seen it, you definitely need to check it out, and I’m so glad I did. She is such a sweetheart for chatting with me today. She has a sick kiddo and another one on the way, so she’ll have three girls. Emily, welcome to the show.

Guest (Emily Pulham):
Thank you for having me, Heather. It’s good to be here.

Host:
Yeah, excited to chat. So why don’t you start, Emily, by telling us just a little bit about your background — how you got started with family history storytelling in general.

Guest:
Yeah. Um… so, I believe that my — um, the bug, and a lot of people will call it the genealogy bug — bit me… we’re talking probably 11 years ago. I took a little class that showed me more about how to look up newspaper articles about relatives, and that was new to me.

I had grown up with a grandmother who was very interested in genealogy. She had taken me to the FamilySearch Library, and I had seen microfilms from being just really young. She even had a microfilm machine in her house.

Yeah — she was an avid family historian, loved to travel, loved to research her ancestors in Germany and Switzerland. That’s where her ancestors came from. So I kind of, by osmosis, got that love for genealogy.

But then, in terms of storytelling — I found a newspaper article about the wife of my second great-grandpa’s brother. She had passed away of a heart problem, leaving her husband with six children, in North Dakota.

I found that newspaper, and it just… took me in. I thought, I need to find more of these stories. It was so cool to show my grandma, because she didn’t know the story and hadn’t connected the dots. I was able to fill out a part of the tree she hadn’t filled out, which made me feel really good about myself — because she was such a seasoned historian.

That story was kind of a catalyst. Finding that little shred of evidence catapulted me into wanting to tell more family stories and do more genealogy research.

Host:
Yeah, I love newspapers because they have those stories you can’t get in a traditional record. They have something exciting or intriguing about them.

Guest:
Yes — and details. I even found fun wedding details about my great-grandma’s sisters. It felt like reading a Facebook post — here was the dress color of the bridesmaids, the flowers… I thought, this is so much fun, why doesn’t anyone talk about this?

We’re too obsessed with dates and times, but the stories are what fill it all out.

Host:
Exactly. And I especially love when I have ancestors with wedding articles but no wedding photo — those descriptions become gold.

So Emily, why do you think storytelling is such an important part of family history? I feel like it’s more so now than in the past, since we used to focus on names and dates.

Guest:
That is such a good question. Humans — well, I shouldn’t generalize to everybody — but humans thrive on stories. Our minds hold onto them in a stronger way than a name, date, fact, or place.

Knowing a story about somebody makes it more accessible and less abstract. Those stories aren’t always readily available — sometimes you have to dig — but people gravitate toward them. That’s why children love bedtime stories, why we love movies… it’s part of our DNA as humans.

Host:
Do you have a particular process for writing a story? Or a template you follow?

Guest:
That’s a good question. Some people like to use the “Hero’s Journey” template. For me — my current project is my grandmother’s life history. She grew up in Denmark during World War II and immigrated to the States in the 1950s. She’s had some big, dramatic events in her life.

I like to outline — figure out the big dramatic events I want to make the reader feel like they’re there for — and figure out how to get from point A to point B without it feeling like a Wikipedia article.

When I’m lucky enough to write about someone alive, I can talk back and forth with them to get clarity. For someone deceased, the process would be different. But either way, I focus on main points where something big changed, fill in the details, and outline.

The actual writing — some find it drudgery, but I enjoy it. I decide on the voice for the story and go from there.

Host:
And do you write long stories, short snippets, or somewhere in between?

Guest:
It depends on the scope of their life events. Some lives lend themselves to memoir-style snapshots rather than chronological accounts.

In my grandmother’s case, she already had a lot of writing, so it was collaborative. The book we’re working on is 318 pages right now — but that includes photos, maps, endnotes. It’s a trade-sized book, not 8.5 x 11 pages printed at home.

Host:
Do you also capture audio or video in the process?

Guest:
She declined interviews — she connects better with pen and paper. But she wrote an overture to go with her life history. My friend, a musician, arranged it beautifully. I wish we had quality recordings of her singing in her younger years, but we do have family videos in the archives.

Host:
That overture… that brought tears to my eyes. What an incredible piece to have from her.

Guest:
Yes, it’s unique and precious.

Host:
Do you have resources or tools you recommend for beginners?

Guest:
If you have physical content, digitize it. Become best friends with your local library or FamilySearch Center — many offer scanning for free.

If you’re working digitally, get familiar with databases like Storied, Ancestry, and others. Organize into folders. And don’t hesitate to reach out to people like me with questions — I’m happy to help.

Host:
Yes — and not everyone realizes FamilySearch Centers offer free help with things like 35mm slides.

Guest:
Exactly — start with free resources before buying equipment.

Host:
I love this part of the show — what’s your favorite family story to share?

Guest:
Well, I joke that I keep “dropping truth bombs” on my family — finding shotgun weddings, and so on. One example: last year I went to Scarborough, England, where my great-grandmother was born.

I was trying to find my fourth great-grandfather’s birth record — no luck. But I discovered that he, a master mariner, married his wife 50 miles north in South Shields, even though all other records placed them in Scarborough.

Five months after their wedding, their first daughter was born. She was a minor at the time. My theory? They had a heated seaside romance, he was stationed up north, and the families sent her to marry him there. They returned to Scarborough and lived happily ever after.

It’s from the early 1800s, reconstructed entirely from records — but it’s the deeper look that reveals the story.

Host:
Don’t you feel writing these stories makes you more connected to your ancestors?

Guest:
Absolutely. When you realize their hardships, you zoom out on your own life and think, I really don’t have it that bad.

Host:
Final tips for people wanting to start writing their stories?

Guest:
Yes — look not just vertically at direct ancestors, but horizontally at siblings. Their lives can add depth to your ancestor’s story, sometimes even solving brick walls.

When turning facts into feelings, use imagination to convey what they might have felt — readers connect more when they feel something.

Host:
That’s fantastic advice. Emily, thank you so much for sharing your expertise and passion today.

Guest:
Thank you so much, Heather.

Host:
Until next time, friends — embrace the power of your family’s untold tales and embark on a journey of discovery. Let the ink flow and the words dance as you weave together the threads of your ancestors’ lives. Start writing your family stories today at Storied.com.

Have a great day, everyone.

[Music]

And that brings us to the end of this episode of The Family Treehouse, where we celebrate the power of storytelling and preserving our family legacies. Storied is more than just a platform for sharing stories — dive into historical records and newspapers, discover the hidden gems that bring your ancestors to life, and connect the dots between generations.

Thank you for joining us on this storytelling journey. Your stories matter — and through Storied, they can resonate across time and touch the hearts of generations to come. Keep uncovering your family’s history, and keep the spirit of storytelling alive with Storied.