Free printable kit · 11 pages
50 Questions to Ask Your Oldest Relatives — Before Their Stories Are Gone for Good
A free printable kit: the exact questions, the script for asking, and the one question to end on that hands you your next interview.
Every family has one. The person who remembers.
The aunt who knows which village you came from. The grandfather who can name every face in an old photo. The mother who remembers how the old house smelled.
You’ve always meant to sit down with them. Most of us have. Then one day they’re gone — and every question you never asked goes too.
Here’s what stings: it’s rarely the big facts you lose. Those end up on a form somewhere. You lose the texture. The nickname. The crossing. The feud. The recipe. The reason they left.
I built this kit so the conversation actually happens. Not someday. This month.
It’s 11 pages, free, printable. Set aside one afternoon. Bring the kit. Press record.
What's inside:
- 50 questions, in the order a real conversation flows — names and dates first, then childhood, then the stories worth staying for
- A word-for-word script for asking — including what to say if they hesitate, and the one sentence that takes the tension out for both of you
- A "choose what fits" section for migrations, military service, name changes, adoptions — the complicated chapters every family has
- A Relative Fact Sheet and three-generation tree chart so the names and spellings don't get lost
- What to do when tears come — and how to end well
Question #50 is the one most people miss: "Who else should I talk to while I still can — and what should I ask them?" It ends every interview by handing you your next one.
50 Questions to Ask Your Oldest Relatives — Before Their Stories Are Gone for Good
A free printable kit: the exact questions, the script for asking, and the one question to end on that hands you your next interview.
Written by Marc McDermott — genealogist and founder of GenealogyExplained.com, where hundreds of thousands of people a year learn how to trace their family history.
