Thank you, Jude Rhodes, Noel Macdonald Peck, Jim the Historian, Shell Norman, Linda Teather, Diane Burley, Frances Ford, Dan at Genealogy Assistant, Katy Dalgleish, GrnEyedLdy, Jill Swenson, and all of you in the audience today. Truly, thank you for joining Dai Davies at The GenealCymru Newsletter and me today.

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Where the Facts Aren’t Useful

Early on in anyone’s family history journey, we usually learn certain fundamental rules like…

* The importance of being accurate in your reporting of the facts in a story.

* Not publishing information about living people.

Each seems sensible when you consider the risk of distorting the facts about history or the unintended consequences of publishing details about other people’s lives. In my conversation with Dai, we looked straight into the uncomfortable topic of how stories about people who died by suicide can have a direct impact on living people in times of crisis.

Insights from their own research

Dai was drawn into this area from their own research into “The Ancestors Lost by Suicide Commemoration Project”

The project had them produce short biographies of the lives of all of their ancestors in England and Wales who died by suicide between the late 18th and early 20th century. The first key insight was that by collecting these ancestors together, there’s a temptation to talk about how they died by suicide, but in doing so, the person is immediately washed away. Dai didn’t want to do that.

Instead, their research led to work on safe messaging by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (afsp.org) and to the realization that they could do so much more by understanding each individual as a person. These were remarkable individuals, each deserving of dignity and the depth of research needed to explore who they were as people. Sometimes the details help us understand the complex situation they were in. Other resources they shared include:

* Wikipedia’s List of Suicide Crisis Lines

* SuicideInfo.ca

Dai’s key takeaway was something all of us can learn from in the insights about why we’re embarking on this kind of storytelling. Dai discovered that they wanted to make their research “useful” to living people today. Stories about success or failure can be interesting on their own, but what’s useful is understanding how change occurred.

Dai shares several resources in each post in this series. During our conversation, they mentioned Rev. Daniel Evans (Daniel Ddu o Geredigion) of Maesnewydd, Llanwnen (1792–1846)

Under headings like “Debunking Common Myths About Suicide” and “Talking and Writing About Suicide,” they’ve stepped up to be part of the solution, helping all of us as family historians better understand the stories behind the individuals in our research who also died by suicide. This series has made Dai a sought-after speaker on the topic. They welcome the opportunity to share what they’ve learned in public forums.

* Learn more about their research services

* See their speaking schedule

* Reach Dai at GenealCymru

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