ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces many of the people interviewed for this book with quotes that represent their thinking about families and family history. Their quotes may be representing family and/or researcher perspectives, in either case reflecting country including diverse populations and/or any cultural impacts on family oral history. The chapter content distinguishes memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies from family history but includes them as important resources. It uses the example of one story in a chain of family stories to introduce why stories matter to a full history as they accumulate to build at least themes, characters, and historical contexts.
