ABSTRACT
After a short vignette from a family history with something of a mystery, this chapter moves on to review the United Nations Population Division's demographic and social statistics data, some US census data, a related academic research report that outlines historical context from 1600 to the early twenty-first century and then moves to what interviewees from different types of families representing several countries have to say about pursuing a family oral history project. The interviewees represent same-sex parents, cohabitating parents, step or blended families, widowed/remarried, divorced/remarried, and the roles of friends and of single people in families and family history. In addition, a European researcher explains her findings about the financial rights of women whether in a cohabitating or married relationship in entrepreneurial families, and the extra steps taken to interview those women. The chapter ends by unraveling the mystery including the family relationship involved and some research needed to understand the historical backdrops that were relevant.
