A Family History "How To"

Have you ever wanted to write down your own family history, but didn't know where to begin? The Exeter LitFest is here to help! The Exeter LitFest is coming up on Saturday, April 1st at the Exeter Town Hall 12-5pm. (Free & open to the public.)

One of the events (at 3pm) is a "Family History" panel featuring local authors who have written histories and memoirs. All attendees can ask plenty of questions, and will leave with a tip sheet to bring home. Hope to see you there!
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3:00 to 3:45 PM Upstairs Gallery:
Preserving Family Histories – Learn how to write your story with June Fabre, James Nealon, and Tom Tufts. Moderated by Renay Allen / Peg Aaronian.

BIOS:
James D. Nealon
When he was just 11, James Nealon asked his great aunt where the family came from. Her 12-page response launched his life-long passion to identify their Irish ancestors and tell their stories. Over the years, James put the question to other family members and in 2001 presented them with an exhaustive history. He has also amassed a family tree on Ancestry with more than 8,000 kinfolk and is still at it. When James retired as a career foreign service officer he merged his interest in the Civil War and an ancestor’s participation in the Fenian movement in “Confederacy of Fenians”, an imagined account of the Irish supporting the Confederacy in exchange for British support of an independent Ireland. Now he is trying to figure out what to do with his latest writing project, accounts of his childhood escapades, from getting lost at a circus to joining the scouts so he could start fires.

June Fabre
June Fabre wrote her first two books to improve healthcare through her business, Smart Healthcare LLC. Her mission: speaking up to make a difference in the lives of patients and healthcare professionals. When she retired, her focus shifted, at the behest of her adult children who pressed her to preserve their immigrant grandparents’ life stories. And when she was done with that, they encouraged her to write her own memoir. The two self-published volumes, “Coming to America” and “I Hope You Dance, A Memoir”, have made perfect gifts for family members, June says. An active member of several local writing groups, June credits their influence on her creations.

Thomas Tufts
Amateur genealogist/retired Fire Lieutenant Tom Tufts’ family traces its American roots to 1638 and he is devoted to sharing everything he unearths about them in a pair of blogs, Tufts Family Genealogy I & II. Tom got hooked when he researched a grandfather clock in his late father’s estate, but he didn’t have to start from scratch; a two-volume Tufts family history had already been published and the Tufts Kinsman Association already existed. He has chosen to publish online for the immediacy of the blogosphere. He shares data and stories he uncovers without delay, unlike the author of the Tufts family history who died before he could publish 50 years of research. In addition to preserving family documents, photos and memorabilia, Tom is usually helping a half dozen or so others delving into the extended Tufts family story.
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Please share this post with the genealogists in your family!

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More info at ExeterLitFest.com

Full schedule here:

EXETER LITFEST SCHEDULE: Saturday April 1, 2023

Exeter Town Hall – Free & Open to the Public

12-12:45 PM Keynote Speaker:

Rabia Chaudry, true-crime podcaster & author of Fatty Fatty Boom Town Boom & Adnan’s Story. In discussion with Lara Bricker. (Book signing follows 12:45–1:30pm)

1:00 to 1:45 PM Upstairs Gallery:

POETRY READING: Diannely Antigua and Ralph Sneeden, with a tribute to the late Exeter poet, Harvey Shepard. Moderated by Todd Hearon.

2:00 to 2:45 PM Downstairs:

AUTHOR TALK: Keith O’Brien, author of Paradise Falls: The True Story of an Environmental Catastrophe, in conversation with The Rev. Heidi Carrington Heath.

2:00 to 2:45 PM Upstairs Gallery:

POETRY: Arts in Action: Celebrating Poetic Possibilities - Exeter High School teachers Dennis Magliozzi and Kristina Peterson. A selection of high school students will share their slam and spoken word poetry. Intro by Jack Herney.

3:00 to 3:45 PM Downstairs:

AUTHOR PANEL: Memory and Mystery - Novelists Annie Hartnett, author of Unlikely Animals, and Lara Prescott, author of The Secrets We Kept.

3:00 to 3:45 PM Upstairs Gallery:

AUTHOR PANEL: Preserving Family Histories – Learn how to write your story with June Fabre, James Nealon, and Tom Tufts. Moderated by Renay Allen / Peg Aaronian.

4:00- 4:45 PM Downstairs:

AUTHOR TALK: Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, UNH Physicist & author of The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred. In discussion with PEA’s Frances Johnson.