What do you remember? Writing Memoirs

Writing Memoirs  

                                                                                                                      Photo by Pixaby from Pexels

                What do you remember?

      Memoirs are fascinating because they give us intimate glimpses into people’s lives. The personalities described come to life because we see them through the viewpoints and emotions of real people, people who have strong feelings about their subject.

     The brief story that follows, “My Great-grandfather,” captures the essence of memoir writing. Notice how the author, Maude Francis, draws in the reader immediately, setting her narrative in the intimacy of family story telling. Everyone can relate to family gatherings where we hear relatives give us glimpses into the past—into history that is our heritage.

     After the short introduction, the author gets into the riveting meat of the story—the exploits of an amazing young boy who grew up to be an amazing man—Maude’s great-grandfather. Maude enclosed the story in a circular frame, ending it with herself back in the picture, showing us the love and respect she has for this extraordinary relative whom she never met.

            My Great-grandfather, George Griffith

                                    by Maude Francis

George Griffith was my great-grandfather. I didn’t ever meet him, but I heard of his life as my grandmother would recall her life and the lives of her family.

When George was a young boy in Missouri, many of the townspeople were becoming Mormon. His family was always Catholic, so he told his mother that he couldn’t live that life. His mother tried to get him to stay with the family, but he decided to “Go West, young man.”

His mother walked with him to what, I’m sure, was a shallow or narrow spot in the Missouri River. He kissed his mother goodbye, jumped in the river, swam across, and got out on the other side. He waved to his mother from the bank, turned and walked away, never to see her again.

At twelve years old, he had a very big task in front of him. He found work wherever he could, walking along with wagon trains going west.

One of the stories I heard was he made it to Dodge City, where he got a job in a saloon. By this time, he could have only been thirteen. George told his children of the patrons and all the shenanigans at the saloon.

His jobs would include getting lunch from the diner for two card players. One was Wyatt Earp. The other was Doc Holliday.

He moved around the West, finally coming to Bannock County, Idaho. He was able eventually to homestead a nice chunk of land on the Yellowstone Highway, living the rest of his life raising kids, breeding race horses, and becoming sheriff of Bannock County for a while.

Later in life, he was crossing Yellowstone Highway when he was hit be a car, and was the first person in Bannock County to be killed by a horseless carriage.

There is still a street in town named for him, Griffith Street. I wish I could have known this man. I would have loved to hear his stories, “Straight from the horse’s mouth,” as, I am told, was the way he always told them.

        Maude’s story about her great-grandfather is a gem of a                classical memoir.

        Here’s a fun way to get into the swing of

 memoir writing:

            Retell a favorite bedtime story as though it happened to a relative, or                to you.

                    Put your emotions and reactions into the story.

            Memoirs can be written any way you want—

                    As historical documents, humor, soap operas, plays or poems.

    Write whatever appeals to you. It doesn’t have to be historically momentous. My sister has a delightful story of her two-year-old son’s first bite of a McDonald’s hamburger.

                                        Just write!