Turning Wills, Census Data & Documents into Poetry

How genealogists can transform family records into heartfelt verse.

Genealogists are no strangers to archived or online census sheets, court records, and faded wills. These documents create the scaffolding of family history research. They're rich with names, dates, occupations, and mysterious blanks. But how do we go from columns and clauses to something alive with emotion and memory? One powerful answer is poetry. Docupoetry is a thing! Check out this article to delve into one of the most interesting topics I've tackled to date (for me, at least!).

Poetry can allow us to fill in the rigid boundaries that documents provide with imagination and empathy. What did a widow think as she signed her "X" mark on a will? What stories live between the ten-year gaps in the census? Turning documents into verse doesn’t change the facts...it gives them voice.

You'll learn below that this voice often isn't pretty. Racial inequities, political policies that hurt individuals, and natural disastors all offer fodder for the documentary poem. Reality, also, is key in this genre. I give you a break both in the image above and in the prompt below to focus on something loving before you decide to dig deeper.

Poetry Form Spotlight: The Found Poem

The found poem is a perfect match for document-based writing. It takes existing language from a will, land deed, or inventory list and transforms it into poetry by rearranging, spacing, or emphasizing certain phrases by using the "blackout method" to develop blackout poetry.

Why the found poem works:

• It's rooted in real language—perfect for historical materials.

• You don't need to invent anything—just select, shape, and feel.

• It teaches us to listen closely to the original voice in the record.

How to begin:

• Choose a single document such as a will, census form, or pension application.

• Highlight or copy key phrases that resonate for you emotionally or that seem to tell a story.

• Rearrange them in lines or stanzas. Add line breaks for rhythm.

• Let the gaps and silences speak too.

Bonus Form: Epistolary Poems (poems in the form of letters) also work beautifully if you want to “respond” to the record from your ancestor’s or your own point of view.

🧵 Mini Prompt Box

Prompt:
You don’t need an original birth certificate or a distant ancestor’s journal to start. A single probate record or census listing can hold enough humanity to inspire a lifetime of poems. You can start with:

“The Williams-Jones marriage, announced yesterday...”

You might describe the medium (newspaper, census record, birth certificate), use the words, and imagine the outcome.

✍️ Call to Action: Your Turn to Find the Poem

Title: Your Ancestor’s Voice in the Records
Try this: Choose one historical document—such as a will, land record, or census page.

• Highlight 5–10 striking or emotional phrases.

• Rearrange them into a found poem.

• If you'd like, add 1–2 of your own lines imagining what the person might say.

• Give your poem a title based on the year, place, or record type.

This is your chance to bring their story to life—in just a few lines of verse. Start with a document that has always intrigued or confused you. Look at it with fresh eyes - not as data, but as a glimpse into a life.

Go to the article, Finding the Story in the Silence at Goin’ Poetic to learn more about docupoetry, to grab a checklist geared to gathering all the tools you might need to write your own poem, and tons of resources to learn from.