About the Site

This site will compile and share oral histories and photos of our relatives. Contact Joe Essid (joe -dot- essid -at- gmail -dot- com) to add your materials. 

A good bit of this got inspired by the Christmas story I wrote for a few years for the Ryan and Essid Family gathering on Christmas Day.  Since Nancy and I don't like to waste paper and send Christmas cards, a story seemed a more permanent way to celebrate the season. So in addition to compiling family history, I want this site to have stories sent as gifts to the family on a regular basis.

Why do this?

"Our stories and our parents' and grandparents' stories--and even beyond to their parents' and great-grandparents' stories--are precious in a world where the narrative of who we are and were usually lasts no more than three generations." Michael Twitty, The Cooking Gene