[Ramius]

For how many years were those oral family stories the only touch with the past? And how many of our legends today grew from those?

All of them... that's why IMHO, oral histories just don't cut it. You gotta write stuff down, and pass it on that way. Oral histories end up being a generational whisper-game that gets the right stuff wrong and the wrong stuff right.

This, also IMHO, is why there is so little of value that remains of the histories of American Indians. Far too many generations without a written language took their toll on permanance and accuracy.

[Wneighbor]

This, also IMHO, is why there is so little of value that remains of the histories of American Indians.

LOL. A lot of the stories I am trying to write cover this part. Grama's mother was native American. The histories were passed from firstborn female to firstborn female. :-) I am the first-born, of the first-born, of the firstborn, or the first-born of the one who was "Christianized" and married a Scotsman. I was told by my great Grama for my entire life that the history goes with me - I must remember it.

[HairOfTheDog]

We have some good stuff in that regard. I am pleased and cherish the 'book'. Great stories.... How better to hear about Grandma than her own story she wrote about her parents when she was in high school? - Or the letter mom wrote to them on their 50th Anniversary. Good stuff.... Have to finish it. And find someone who will want to know it.