Genealogy

Informal, but yeah. It wasn't structured really, just a conversation that flowed after suggesting it to my grandfather that was in poor health and expressed a regret at not being able to tell my niece some of the stories from his family history.

It wasn't specifically about genealogy, though it did include that as a side benefit. Hard to tell a story about his great-great grandfather without covering a big patch of of genealogy.

Most of it was about him, his mother and father, and then some of the stories that got passed down about family further back.

I very strongly suggest doing it if it is at all possible. Once you get started, questions will come to mind you can't plan for. You can get details they might not think to include if they were just writing it down or self recording.

People just don't think to record normal life, or even unique and interesting stories about themselves, so such things get talked about by others, but still never written down or otherwise recorded. You might run across someone's journal if they kept one, but that isn't as common as you'd think.

Just as an example, my grandfather would sometimes mention in passing that he left the little mountain town he was born in to get a job in Ohio. What he never mentioned until it was a sit-down with questions was that the entire trip was him walking, catching rides, and hopping a train. He had never mentioned that he had just turned 16 at the time. He had never talked about the first night sleeping under nothing but a blanket on the side of the road, shivering and startling awake at the sounds of larger animals in the woods.

All of that came out (and more) because I was asking for details. Like, how long did it take to get there? He'd never thought to mention it, just that he made the trip and stayed with an uncle once he got there. He said it took about three days. That led to questions about how he traveled which opened up the story about sleeping near the road, no fire, and alone.

I promise you, if your relatives are willing, and you take the time to let them wander a bit, you'll find out little things that are worth the time and effort.